SRINAGAR: Congress is emerging as the single largest party in the civic polls for Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) but independents have won most of the 27 seats in the 74-ward body for which results were declared so far, officials said. Out of the results declared so far, independents have won on 15 seats followed by Congress which has in 10 wards, the officials said.They said BJP has managed to win in two wards so far.Notable among the winners are National Conference rebel leader Junaid Azim Mattu, who won from Solina ward and Ashok Kaul of the BJP who won from the Karan Nagar ward. Kaul got 73 votes -- all from Kashmiri migrants.Gulshan Bilal of Congress won from Syed Ali Akbar ward by bagging all eight votes that were cast in the polls in her ward.<doc-sep>Counting for Jammu and Kashmir local body elections to be done today. | Photo Credit: ANI Srinagar: The counting of urban local body elections of Jammu and Kashmir for 52 civic bodies was completed today. The state went into polls earlier in October. The counting began at 9 am, as per a report by PTI. Counting is being held at the respective district headquarters and all arrangements are in place, an official said. In Jammu, the counting is underway at Government Polytechnic College. Elections in the state were held in four phases from October 8 to October 16 for over 3,000 candidates. The polls were held amid tight security. Major regional parties in Jammu and Kashmir, including National Conference and the People's Democratic Party, boycotted the elections over Centre's unclear stand on Article 35A. Hence, the fight in these local body polls is between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). In the militancy-affected Shopian district, 13 candidates of the BJP won unopposed after people preferred to maintain a safe distance from the whole exercise due to threats from terror groups. Follow this space for Jammu and Kashmir local body election results live updates: 8:10 pm: BJP has won 100 seats (24 contested and 76 uncontested), while Congress has won 157 seats (79 contested and 78 uncontested) and Independent candidates have won 178 seats (103 contested and 75 uncontested). 5:50 pm: The results of 94 wards in south Kashmir are out and Congress has won 28 seats. Congress now have control of three municipal bodies in the state. 5:10 pm: The Bharatiya Janata Party swept the elections in four districts in militancy-hit southern Kashmir, winning 53 of the 132 wards. The victory has given BJP four out of the 20 civic bodies that were contested, namely Anantnag, Kulgam, Pulwama and Shopian, according to reports. 3:45 pm: As per the preliminary results, the BJP is leading in several district municipal committees while the Congress is not close up in the fight for civic body elections. Meanwhile, the two major regional parties, National Conference and People's Democratic Party, boycotted the elections on centre's uncertain stand on 35A. 3:30 pm: Congress won all seats from the Yaripora Municipal Committee while the BJP swept all seats in Devasar Municipal Committee. In militancy-hit Pulwama district, Congress failed to win any seat while the BJP bagged six seats and independents won two. 3:05 pm: In the Kulgam district, the BJP was way ahead than Congress as they won in 10 wards while Congress won three. Meanwhile, the Congress was leading in the Budgam district where they won a total of 23 wards as compared to BJP's five wards. 2:40 pm: In Baramulla district, the BJP is leading with 17 wards and Congress candidates failed to win a single seat in the polls. 16 municipal seats in the district were won by independents while 21 were vacant. 2:20 pm: In the Pahalgam municipal committee, the party won 13 seats unopposed and there were no other candidates for the rest of the sic seats. Meanwhile, the Congress won a majority in Doory municipal committee and bagged 14 out of 17 seats while just BJP won two seats. 1:40 pm: The BJP won eight seats in the Devsar municipal committee and got a majority in the Qazigund Municipal Committee as they won four out of seven wards in the area. The rest of the wards had no candidates. 1:15 pm: The counting for Anantnag and Mattan is currently on and the results are expected later on Saturday. Congress won Budgam committee with six seats while the BJP managed to win four seats. Three more seats are vacant. 12:45 pm: The results of 94 wards of south Kashmir have been declared. The Congress has won 28 seats out of 94. Meanwhile, independents won 13 seats in the polls. Rest of the seats were swept by the BJP, thus claiming a clear majority. 12:20 pm: The BJP won the Urban local body polls in four militancy infested districts of South Kashmir. They won 53 out of 132 wards where polls were held earlier. The four districts where the BJP won are Anantnag, Kulgam, Pulwama, and Shopian. 11:40 am: In the Shopian district of south Kashmir which is infamous for several incidents of militancy, 13 candidates of the BJP won unopposed earlier since people were refraining from taking part in the poll exercise after threats from terrorists. No nomination was filed for the five remaining seats. 11:10 am: The counting is being held at the Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC) in Srinagar for the Srinagar Municipal Corporation. Meanwhile, the counting for Jammu Municipal Corporation is being held at the Polytechnic Institute near Bikram Chowk. 10:50 am: The Congress wins on Ganie Mohalla, Khanpora, Wahadatpora, Bazar Mohalla, Karipora and Kharpora municipal wards while the BJP wins on Narispora, Housing colony Ompora, Dobi Mohalla and Mohanpora municipal wards, in Budgam, as per ANI. 10:25 am: In the run-up to elections that were held earlier in October, there was no campaigning before the polls since terror outfits had threatened to target those taking part in the polls and separatist groups called for a boycott. The identity of the contesting candidates was also kept secret for their security. The other political parties against the conduct of polls questioned the process since everything was under secrecy. 10:05 am: Following the setup and arrangements for elections in the valley, several people across counting centres in Jammu and Kashmir are at work. It will decide who will have the highest stake in the state in local body polls. Here are some more visuals from a counting centre in Udhampur: 9:45 am: In Kashmir, 231 candidates out of 598 wards were elected unopposed and there were no candidates for as many as 181 wards. Meanwhile, Jammu and Ladakh regions witnessed high voter turnout. The overall voter turnout for the state was 35.1 percent. 9:25 am: The counting of votes for the Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir is being held at the district headquarter in the area amid tight security. Here are the visuals from the counting hall in Doda:<doc-sep>Aug 09, 2018 , 2:10PM Nation observes 76th anniversary of Quit India movement today @airnewss To mark the day, the News Services Division of All India Radio will bring you a special live bilingual Radio Bridge Programme tonight on 'NEW INDIA & RELEVANCE OF FREEDOM'. It can be heard on the FM Gold channel from 9:30 PM. In the programme, experts in our, Delhi Studio will interact with the experts sitting in our studios at Mumbai, Chennai, Guwahati, Jaipur, Jammu and Lucknow. On the occasion, President Ram Nath Kovind today remembered all those who sacrificed their all for the Independence of the country. In a tweet, Mr Kovind said, he is looking forward to hosting the freedom fighters at an At-Home reception at Rashtrapati Bhavan this evening. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also remembered the great women and men who took part in the Quit India Movement. On Twitter, Mr Modi shared a poem on Quit India by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. It was published in 1946 in 'Abhyudaya' a newspaper associated with Madan Mohan Malaviya. Mr Modi also shared pages from a report filed by the colonial administrators. It showed how through the Quit India Movement, Mahatma Gandhi shook the foundations of colonial rule and accelerated the journey towards freedom.<doc-sep>These results are a reflection of aspiration of people of JnK, who want to move away from politics of strife toward… https://t.co/5VIzkfpE0Z — Amit Shah (@AmitShah) 1540041790000 JAMMU/ SRINAGAR : The BJP on Saturday tallied on top with 212 out of 520 urban local body seats across the Jammu region, comprising 10 districts. In Kashmir Valley , Congress emerged as the largest winning party with 157 out of 624 seats and the party fared relatively well in Ladakh division too.As per the results declared on Saturday, in Jammu region, independents won 185 seats, the second-highest, followed by Congress (110) and J&K National Panthers Party (13). Mainstream political parties National Conference and PDP had boycotted elections to protest against what they called were attempts by the central government to repeal Article 35-A of Constitution, which grants special status to J&K.BJP claimed 92 out of 154 ULB seats in Jammu district, 23 out of 63 in Rajouri, 13 out of 26 in Reasi and 34 out of 80 in Kathua. In other districts, the party didn’t fare so well.In some parts of Jammu, especially in its bastion old city, the saffron party got some shock from independents mainly because of dissidence within the party over denial of tickets. Congress got 28 in Jammu district. BJP won a majority 43 seats in the 75-ward Jammu Municipal Corporation. Independents and Congress here bagged 18 and 14 wards, respectively.PM Modi said his party will work hard to fulfil the aspirations of the people. “These results are a reflection of aspiration of people of J&K, who want to move away from politics of strife towards Modi’s politics of development,” BJP president Amit Shah tweeted.<doc-sep>
The BJP won the elections to 100 municipal wards in Kashmir in the urban local bodies (ULB) polls. Srinagar: The BJP won the elections to 100 municipal wards in Kashmir in the urban local bodies (ULB) polls, whose results were declared on Saturday, trouncing the Congress in its bastions as it rode on the support of the Kashmiri Pandit (KP) voters. BJP benefited as its arch rival didn’t field candidates in many seats. As per the results which were declared, the BJP — for the first time in the electoral history of the state — managed to win 100 seats. While it bagged 24 seats through a contest, it won other 76 seats uncontested. BJP’s gain came at the expense of Congress, which won a total of 157 seats, including 78 uncontested. The independents won a total of 178 wards and emerged victorious in 103 seats through a contest while there was no contest in 75 other wards. In south Kashmir’s Devsar Municipal Committee (MC), BJP won all the eight wards as its Muslim candidates were elected from the area. Likewise from Qazigund Municipal Committee, four BJP candidates were elected while three seats were vacant. Congress’ Devsar MLA, Mohammad Amin Bhat, said that the party didn’t field candidates in Qazigund and Devsar. “Before the elections, incidents of militancy had stepped up. Due to the security scenario, we didn’t field any candidates.” “The BJP has largely won the seats by fielding candidates who are not known to people or by making the KPs contest. How can Kashmiri Pandits who are settled in Jammu carry out development in Kashmir?” he said. From Municipal Council Sopore, which is represented by Congress in the Assembly, BJP has won 7 seats. In one ward, an independent candidate was elected while 13 other wards are vacant. Congress' Sopore MLA, Haji Abdul Rasheed, also said that the party didn’t field any candidate in Sopore. Even from the Municipal Committee Dooru, the BJP won two seats while 15 were bagged by the Congress. From Dooru, Congress state president GA Mir had lost the 2014 Assembly elections to PDP by only a thin margin. Likewise from Mattan in Anantang, the saffron party won eight wards while one seat was won by Congress and an independent candidate each. From Municipal Committee Bandipora, from where Congress is represented by its MLA Usman Majeed, BJP has won three wards while in 12 wards, Congress candidates were elected and two have been won by independents. The BJP candidates even won from the separatist hotbeds of the southern part of Kashmir. All the 17 wards of Municipal Committee Shopian have been won by the BJP’s Kashmiri Pandit candidates. The saffron party’s candidates were even declared elected in wards of the Municipal Committee of Tral, hometown of slain Hizbul Mujahideen militant commander, Burhan Muzafar Wani. Out of the 13 wards of the Tral Municipal body, nine wards remained vacant as none filed the nominations while three wards have been won by Kashmiri Pandit (KP) candidates on BJP ticket and one by an independent candidate. From Municipal Committee Pulwama, a BJP Muslim candidate has won from two wards of Prichoo and Sirnoo. In Municipal Committee Pampore, three wards have been won by BJP’s KP candidates, while a woman from a Muslim party has been elected from another ward, and the other was won by an Independent. 12 seats are vacant. The BJP has even won from the three wards of Municipal Committee Langate, bastion of Awami Ittehad party (AIP) president, Er Rashid. Other 10 wards have been won by the independent candidates. The contest in Kashmir has been largely between the independents backed by People’s Conference (PC) chairman, Sajad Gani Lone, Congress and the BJP. Both the NC and PDP have boycotted the polls, claiming that Government of India (GoI) was trying to scrap Article 35-A, which bars outsiders from owning properties in Kashmir. In the polls which were held in four phases in Kashmir, the turnout was negligible in the range of 3 to 4 percent, which was termed by separatists as a “vindication that the Kashmiris are seeking freedom from Indian rule.”