KNZ NEWS DESK
Srinagar, Oct 20 : Independent candidates have won 178 seats in Urban Local Bodies elections in Kashmir which was boycotted by two major mainstream parties, National Conference and Peoples Democratic Party.
Congress has won 157 followed 100 seats by BJP, 76 of them uncontested.
After completion of the counting, independents were declared winners on 103 of the seats were election were held and remaining 75 were won by them uncontested.
Similarly, among 157 candidates belonging to Congress, 78 seats were won by the party uncontested.
In Srinagar, there were 74 wards and 66 among them saw the contest while eight, four each Congress and independent candidates, were won uncontested. Among the 66 wards were election took place, 49 independent candidates won while 12 were won by Congress and four by BJP.
In all, there were 624 wards in Kashmir and among them 208 saw contest, 231 wards were won by candidates uncontested while 185 remained vacant. The counting took place at Sher-i-Kashmir International Conference Centre (SKICC).
Election to the urban local body polls was held in four phases from October 8 to October 16. There are over 3,000 candidates who contested the 1,145 wards across the state. In Kashmir, which has 624 wards, at least 231 candidates were elected unopposed while no candidates contested in 185 wards. The voter turnout in the polls was low, with 8.3 per cent votes cast in the first phase on October 8, 3.4 per cent in the second phase on October 10, 3.49 per cent in the third phase on October 13 and 4.2 per cent in the last phase on October 16. The overall percentage was 35.1 per cent.
During voting, there were no signs of any electioneering in the run up to the polls boycotted by National Conference and PDP. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has swept the Jammu Municipal Corporation polls. (GNS)
