 "Jammu and Kashmir Assembly election phase 3 polling: The contests you cannot miss")
Jammu and Kashmir is voting in the third and final phase on Tuesday (October 1) to elect a 90-member Assembly. Over 3.9 million voters electors in 40 Assembly segments across seven districts will decide the fate of over 400 candidates.
These are the first Assembly elections in the Union Territory in a decade. These are also the first polls since the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019. The results for all three phases will be announced on October 8.
What are the key constituencies and who are the main candidates? Let’s take a look.
J&K Assembly elections 3rd phase: Key seats
Voting will be held in seven districts – Jammu, Udhampur, Samba and Kathua in the Jammu region and Baramulla, Bandipora and Kupwara in north Kashmir.
Of the 40 constituencies going to polls, 24 fall in the Jammu province, while the remaining 16 are in the Kashmir region.
The key constituencies that will vote include Bandipora, Kupwara, Baramulla, Udhampur, Kathua (SC), and Jammu.
Other seats where voters will exercise their franchise are Karnah, Trehgam, Lolab, Handwara, Langate, Sopore, Rafiabad, Uri, Gulmarg, Wagoora-Kreeri, Pattan, Sonawari, Gurez (ST), Ramnagar (SC), Bani, Billawar, Basohli, Jasrota, Kathua (SC), Hiranagar, Ramgarh (SC), Samba, Vijaypur, Bishnah (SC), Suchetgarh (SC), RS Pura, Jammu South, Bahu, Jammu East, Nagrota, Jammu West, Jammu North, Marh (SC), Akhnoor (SC), and Chhamb.
J&K Elections Phase 3: Key candidates
As many as 415 candidates are in the fray, of which 109 are in the race from the Jammu district, followed by Baramulla (101), Kupwara (59), Bandipora (42), Udhampur (37), Kathua (35) and Samba (32).
In North Kashmir, the main fight is among the nominees of the National Conference–Congress alliance and Jammu Kashmir People’s Conference and Awami Itihad Party (AIP) in 16 seats, while in the Jammu province, there is a close contest between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 24 seats.
Here are the important contenders in the third and final phase:
Tara Chand: Former J&K deputy chief minister Tara Chand is the Congress candidate from Chhamb in Jammu district. It is a Congress bastion, with the Grand Old Party emerging victorious in seven out of the nine elections since 1962.
Chand had bagged the Chhamb constituency twice in 2002 and 2008 but lost the seat to the BJP in 2014. He is now staring at a four-cornered contest, with the BJP’s Rajeev Sharma, rebel Congress candidate Satish Sharma, and the BJP rebel candidate Narendra Singh challenging him.
Sajad Lone: People’s Conference president Sajad Gani Lone is trying his luck from Handwara and Kupwara in northern Kashmir. In the Handwara constituency, he is facing National Conference’s (NC) Chowdhary Mohammad Ramzan, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Gauhar Azad Mir, BJP’s Ghulam Mohammad Mir and Abdul Majid Banday of Awami Ittehad Party.
The NC has fielded Nasir Aslam Wani, the PDP’s candidate is Fayaz Mir, and the AIP of Engineer Rashid has given a ticket to Peerzada Firdous against Lone in Kupwara.
The separatist-turned-mainstream politician had lost the Lok Sabha polls held earlier this year to Sheikh Abdul Rashid, also known as Engineer Rashid, from Baramulla.
Muzaffar Baig: Former J&K deputy chief minister Muzaffar Hussain Baig is in the fray as an Independent candidate. He is contesting from the Baramulla seat, which can see a triangular contest between the National Conference, AIP and the PDP.
Baig, who left the PDP after the Article 370 abrogation, has previously won the seat for the Mehbooba Mufti-led party. The PDP has won the seat since 2002.
Baig is up against his nephew Javeed Hassan Baig, the NC candidate, former legislator Shoiab Nabi Lone fielded by AIP, and PDP’s Mohammad Rafique.
Devender Singh Rana: The BJP has given a ticket to Devender Singh Rana from Nagrota. The brother of Union minister Jitendra Singh Rana is being challenged by NC’s Joginder Singh, alias Kaku, Balbir Singh of the Congress, Shak Mohammad of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Sat Paul of the Samajwadi Party and Shabir Chowdhary of the Apni Party.
Nagrota has seen four Assembly elections since 1996, with the National Conference and BJP winning the seat twice.
The other prominent candidates in the third phase are J&K BJP vice-president Sham Lal Sharma, the party’s Jammu North candidate, and Congress’ Choudhary Lal Singh in Basholi.
The Udhampur district has four Assembly seats – Udhampur West, Udhampur East, Chenani, and Ramnagar. The BJP’s Pawan Kumar Gupta is vying to retain the Udhampur West seat against Congress’ Sumeet Magotra and Independent candidate Jasvir Singh.
The BJP candidate RS Pathania is facing a tough contest from Pawan Khajuria and Balwan Singh, both Independents, in Udhampur East.
Balwant Singh Mankotia, a BJP candidate, is fighting against his cousin and Jammu & Kashmir National Panthers Party leader Harshdev Singh in the Chenani constituency.
There is a triangular contest in Ramnagar among the BJP’s Sunil Bhardwaj, Congress candidate Mool Raj, and Panthers Party India’s Arshi Devi.
With inputs from agencies
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