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In view of the large-scale violence during the third phase of the assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir on October 1, security forces have launched area domination and sanitisation operations to ensure peaceful conduct of the final phase, in which seven constituencies go to the polls, on October 8.
Security forces assisted by local police are carrying out cordon-and-search operations in and around the six constituencies in Doda district and Lolab in Kupwara district.
"There is apprehension of anti-national elements trying to disrupt the polling on Tuesday," Chief Electoral Officer Pramod Jain said in Srinagar. "But we have taken all measures to foil their designs."
Of the 534 polling booths in Doda district, 243 have been classified as hypersensitive and the rest as sensitive, Jain said.
In Lolab, where militants killed National Conference candidate Mushtaq Ahmed Lone, 81 of the 88 polling stations are hypersensitive and the rest sensitive.
Polling staff and equipment have already reached their destinations, Jain said. Some of them had to be airdropped at 49 inaccessible polling booths, while 10,000 porters and ponies had to be used at 40 places for transportation. At 371 places, polling staff had to trek about 1km into the mountains to reach their booths.
He said that unlike in the earlier three phases, when employees from outside the state were deployed for poll duty, polling staff for the last phase comprise only employees of the Jammu & Kashmir government.
He said two officials from two foreign missions based in Delhi would be visiting Doda to witness the polling.
Asked whether the final phase was more difficult, Jain replied that all four phases were "very challenging".
Meanwhile, arrangements for re-polling in four stations of Pahalgam constituency in Anantnag district have also been finalised.
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