Polling underway for last phase of municipal polls in Jammu and Kashmir
Srinagar, Oct 16 : Polling was underway for the fourth and last phase of municipal elections in Jammu and Kashmir to seal the fate of 156 candidates in fray in Srinagar and Ganderbal districts.
Polling began at 6 am amidst stringent security arrangements, officials said. They said the voting will take place at 308 polling stations across the state and would end at 4 pm.
Eight municipal bodies spanning across six districts - all in Kashmir Valley were scheduled to go to polls in the fourth and final phase of the elections. However, out of the eight, only two will see voting, while there will be no contest in the rest of the six bodies.
The rest of the bodies Pattan in Baramulla district of north Kashmir, Pampore, Pulwama and Khrew in Pulwama district in south, Shopian Municipal Committee in Shopian district in south and Dooru Verinag in Anantnag district also in south Kashmir will see no voting either because the candidates won unopposed or no nominations were submitted.
The officials said 156 candidates are in the fray for 37 wards of two urban local bodies for the fourth phase comprising a total electorate of 250794 electors.
They said 12 wards are going to polls in Municipal Committee Ganderbal with a total electorate of 8,491 voters where 38 candidates are in the fray and voting will take place at 12 polling stations.
For 24 wards of Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) with a total electorate of 241043, 113 candidates are in the fray and 295 polling stations have been established for the purpose, the officials said.
They said repoll is taking place at Polling Station number nine - Bachidarwaza of Makhdoom Sahab (ward number 41) - where five candidates are in the fray with a total electorate of 1,260.
The officials said massive security arrangements have been put in place for the smooth conduct of the polls.
Municipal elections, covering 79 municipal bodies with an electorate of about 17 lakh, are being held in four phases. A total of 3,372 nominations have been filed for 1,145 wards.
National Conference, along with PDP and CPI(M), have boycotted the polls due to the legal challenge to Article 35A of the Constitution in the Supreme Court.
The voter turnout in the first two phases of the civic polls in the valley has been low. While 8.3 per cent of the electorate turned up to vote in the 83 wards in the first phase on October 8, the poll percentage fell to an abysmal 3.4 per cent in the second phase held on 10 October. The third phase of polling for civic bodies in Kashmir 13 October witnessed a low turnout of just 3.49 per cent, in line with the trend set in first two phases.
The government has declared holiday on the day of poll in the municipal areas going to polls so as to enable the voters to cast their vote.
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I am Sanjay but not Sanjay of Mahabharat who can predict rate cuts, says RBI guv
Mumbai (PTI): I am Sanjay but not Sanjay of Mahabharat who can predict future rate actions and at what level rate moderation will stop amid the ongoing global uncertainties, RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra said on Wednesday.
Malhotra's remarks came at a media briefing on being asked if more interest rate cuts are in the offing, after he delivered the second straight interest rate cut since taking over as the RBI governor.
According to the Mahabharat, Sanjay was blessed with divine vision and used his power to relay actions at the Kurushetra battlefield to blind King Dhritarashtra at his palace.
He further said monetary policy and fiscal policy are acting in tandem to meet the growth-inflation targets.
"It is a joint effort... the government has done its bit in the Budget recently by taking a large number of measures in terms of the increased capex, tax rebates and we have reduced repo rate and changed the stance going forward, which means that the direction of the policy repo rate is downwards.
"Where it will reach… we really don't know. I am Sanjay, but I am not Sanjay of Mahabharat to be able to foresee that far. I do not have the divine vision that he had," he said.
He further said "we will jointly (with the government) try to manage the growth and the inflation dynamics in our country".
Earlier in the day, Malhotra announced repo rate cut for the second consecutive time and signalled more easing ahead as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) sought to bolster the economy in face of further pressure from damaging US tariffs.
Following the rate cut of 25 basis points, the key policy rate eased to 6 per cent. The move lowers borrowing costs to the lowest level since November 2022, amid easing inflation and a fall in oil prices.
Malhotra also assured that the RBI will maintain sufficient liquidity for speedier rate cut transmission.
We will provide sufficient liquidity for the purposes of monetary policy transmission.
