GILGIT, Sept 18: As many as 3,487 candidates have been declared eligible for taking part in the Northern Areas local bodies elections to be held on Oct 13.

The Chief Election Commissioner, Mohammad Ghazi Khan, told Dawn that in Gilgit district for 16 district council seats 224 candidates were in the field.

Similarly, he said, in Skardu district 87 candidates' nomination papers were accepted, in Diamer district over 128 candidates are in the run, in Ghizer district 89 and in Gangche district 54 candidates are contesting for the district council seats.

The EC said 58 candidates were declared ineligible for contesting district council elections from all over the region.

Mr Khan said that in the Union Council elections they accepted nomination papers of over 700 candidates in Gilgit, in Skardu 620, in Diamer 895, in Ghizer 509 and in Gangche 276 nomination papers were accepted for the union council elections, including municipal committees.

He said that over 363 candidates were declared ineligible for contesting the union councils elections from all the five districts of the region.

Mr Khan said that they had finalized all arrangements to conduct polls and had set up over 248 polling stations in Gilgit, 235 in Skardu, 161 in Diamer, 106 in Ghizer and 126 in Gangche despite the difficulties posed by the sequestered geographical landscape.

The EC giving details of the number of voters in each district, said that in Gilgit district there are 76,304 male voters and 46,209 female, in Skardu 63,145 male and 56,344 female voters, in Diamer 80,580 male and 63,636 female voters, in Ghizer 33,280 male and 30,692 female voters and in Gangche 28,499 male and 27,457 female voters are registered and total number of voters in the region is 52,4146 with a high ratio of the male voters.