The first phase of voting for the Assembly of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir will be held on Wednesday. Voting will be held today on 24 seats in seven districts of the state. All preparations for this have been completed. Voting will be held in three districts of Jammu region and four districts of Kashmir Valley. There are 219 candidates including 90 independents in the fight for these 24 seats. More than 23 lakh voters will vote in the first phase.
This is the first assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019. According to the Election Commission, there are a total of 23,27,580 voters in the first phase, with 11,76,462 are men, 11,51,058 are women and 60 are of the third gender. A Commission official said that in the first phase, 1.23 lakh youth between 18 and 19 years, 28,309 disabled persons and 15,774 elderly voters above 85 years will be able to exercise their franchise.
The official said there are 302 polling stations in urban areas and 2,974 polling stations in rural areas. Four polling officers including the presiding officer will be posted at each polling station… Birdi said, “…Jammu and Kashmir police have made elaborate security arrangements for the joint elections. collection so that more and more people can exercise their right to vote.”
Strict security arrangements
Birdi said that several forces of Central Paramilitary Force (CAPF), Jammu Kashmir Armed Police and Jammu Kashmir police have been deployed for security arrangements. Among the main candidates in Kashmir, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami is contesting from the Kulgram seat for the fifth time in a row, the general secretary of the All India Congress Committee ( AICC) Ghulam Ahmed Mir is contesting from Duru for the third time, while National Conference (NC)’s Sakina Itu Damhal is contesting from Hajipora.
Sartaj Madani (Deosar) and Abdul Rehman Veeri (Shangas-Anantnag) from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) are also among the prominent candidates. PDP’s Iltija Mufti, who is contesting from Bijbehara, is facing a triangular contest with NC’s Bashir Ahmed Veeri and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s Sofi Mohammad Yusuf.
Waheed Para of PDP is contesting from Pulwama seat. He is accused in a terrorism case. Former party colleague and NC candidate Mohammad Khalil is facing a tough challenge. At the same time, the contest has become interesting when the banned former member of Jamaat-e-Islami, Talat Majeed Ali, joined the violence.
Tags: Assembly elections, Jammu kashmir election 2024
FIRST PUBLICATION: September 18, 2024, 24:00 IST
