More than 1,200 candidates are in fray in the first phase of the Jammu and Kashmir municipal polls, state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Shaleen Kabra said on Saturday.
Expressing satisfaction over the response, Kabra said, "For the first phase, the nomination process has ended and the list of contesting candidates is being finalised, while the process for the second phase is on and will end with the list of contesting candidates being finalised on October 1."
In the first phase on October 8, a total of 422 out of 1,145 wards across the state are going to polls, Kabra told reporters here. "For this phase, 1,473 nominations were filed and, after scrutiny, 1,441 nominations were declared valid. Subsequently, there were some withdrawals and 1,283 contestants are now in the fray..."
The CEO said 78 contestants had won the polls unopposed, out of which 69 were from Kashmir.
In three wards of the Srinagar Municipal Corporation that are going to polls in the first phase, eleven nominations have been filed, out of which eight were found valid after scrutiny, Kabra said, adding that there was hardly any ward in the civic body which was going unopposed.
In the second phase, 20 wards are going to polls in Srinagar and the number of nominations filed till date for this phase is 88. For the 3rd phase, 85 nominations have been filed for 26 wards, he said.
The final figure of nominations will be announced after all the formalities were complete. The total number of nominations so far received in all the phases has crossed 3,400 approximately, he added.
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