Bypolls to panchayats in J&K postponed due to security reasons: CEO

Srinagar: The bypolls to panchayats scheduled from March 5 in Jammu and Kashmir has been postponed due to security reasons, J&K Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Shailendra Kumar said on Tuesday. By-election to over 12,500 panchayat seats in Jammu and Kashmir was scheduled to be held in eight phases from March 5.

“The bypolls to panchayats has been postponed for three weeks due to security reasons,” Kumar told.

He said this step was taken after inputs given to him by the home department over security issues.

The eight-phase poll was earlier scheduled to be held from March 5 to March 20 on a party basis. The polling was slated for March 5, March 7, March 9, March 12, March 14, March 16, March 18 and March 20.