Jammu/Srinagar : Poll staff and security personnel reached all the 2,181 polling stations Monday of 18 assembly constituencies in five districts of Jammu and Kashmir where polling will be held Tuesday in the second of the five phase election, an official said.
“All arrangements including polling staff, poll material, heating arrangements and security deployment is in place at all the 2,181 polling stations in the five districts of Poonch, Reasi, Udhampur, Kulgam and Kupwara where voting is scheduled to take place tomorrow (Tuesday) for 18 assembly constituencies.
“Webcasting and videography of some polling stations is also part of the election commission’s exercise to ensure free and fair polls,” an official of the election commission told IANS in Jammu.
The official said contingency plans are also in places for about 100 polling stations close to the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch and Kupwara districts in areas vulnerable to Pakistan firing.
“We have kept contingency plans ready to meet any eventuality at around 100 polling stations those are close to the LoC in Poonch and Kupwara districts. If need arises, we can relocate these to safer places so that poll process at these places is not interrupted,” said the official.
As many as 220 additional companies of central paramilitary forces have been deployed to provide security to voters and polling staff in Kupwara and Kulgam districts of the Kashmir Valley while another 200 companies of central paramilitary forces have been deployed in Reasi, Poonch and Udhampur districts of the Jammu region.
These additional security forces would assist the already deployed personnel of the local police and the central security forces in these districts.
Nine constituencies go to vote in the three districts of the Jammu region while another nine will be voting in the two districts of the Valley. A total of 175 candidates are in the fray.
Voting will start at 8 a.m. and end at 4 p.m.
Separatists have called for a poll boycott and a protest shutdown in areas where polling is being held Tuesday.
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