KL Report
Srinagar
A total of 40 candidates were left in the fray for four Jammu and Kashmir legislative council seats, under the panchayat quota, after four candidates pulled out Monday, the authorities said.
The contest is set to be multi-cornered with all the parties fielding their candidates while the ruling coalition partners – the National Conference (NC) and the Congress – share two seats each.
There will be 286 polling booths and votes will be cast through electronic voting machines Dec 3. The result would be out Dec 6.
The opposition parties, including the Peoples Democratic Party and the Jammu & Kashmir National Panthers Party, have fielded candidates on all the four seats while the Bharatiya Janata Party would contest three seats — two in the Jammu region and one in the Kashmir valley. The Bahujan Samaj Party has fielded three candidates.
Of 36 seats in the legislative council, six – four under the panchayat quota and two from local bodies – are lying vacant.
The electoral college for the four panchayat quota seats comprises of elected panches and sarpanches who have a total of 33,540 votes — Jammu region 15,628 and Kashmir valley 17,912.
The last elections for legislative council seats under the panchayat quota were held in 1974.
