Arrangements in place for counting of votes on 280 DDC seats in J-K

Jammu (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], December 20 (ANI): All arrangements are in place for the counting of votes in all the 280 District Development Council (DDC) constituencies of Jammu and Kashmir, where elections were held in eight phases, said State Election Commissioner (SEC) KK Sharma on Sunday.
The counting will begin at 9 am on December 22 (Tuesday) simultaneously in all the districts and the results will be declared on the same day.
According to an official release, the SEC chaired a meeting to review the preparations and other arrangements with regard to the counting process. The meeting was attended by the Secretary State Election Commissioner and other senior officers of the Commission.
The SEC has appealed to all the political parties and contesting candidates to extend their full cooperation to all the counting staff during the counting process and added that Returning Officers will be incharge of the counting process for each DDC Constituency.
"The entire counting exercise will be monitored and recorded to achieve full transparency," he said.
Elaborating on the counting guidelines, the SEC said counting of ballot papers shall be taken on a round-wise basis after proper mixing of the ballot papers of different polling stations as per prescribed procedure and counting guidelines.
"The Commission has issued detailed guidelines under the Panchayati Raj Rules 1996 and prescribed elaborate procedure on the counting of ballot papers," he said.
While discussing necessary protocols required to be implemented for COVID-19, the SEC said that directions have already been issued to concerned DCs to adhere to COVID-19 SOPS during the counting process.
Nearly a month-long DDC polls, held in eight phases in Jammu and Kashmir ended on December 19 with a total voting percentage 51 while no law-and-order incident was reported anywhere, said KK Sharma. (ANI)