Jammu and Kashmir election: Final phase voting begins for 40 assembly seats

Voting in the third and final phase of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly election began this morning across 40 constituencies. Over 39.18 lakh voters will decide the fate of 415 candidates, including two former deputy chief ministers Tara Chand and Muzaffar Beig.

Voting commenced at 7 am, and is likely continue till 7 pm.

As many as 5,060 polling stations have been set up for this crucial phase, covering 40 assembly segments - 24 in the Jammu region and 16 in the Kashmir Valley.

The campaigning for the final phase ended on Sunday evening, and security forces have been deployed across the Union Territory to maintain the law and order situation.

The highlight of the voting will be participation of west Pakistani refugees, Valmiki Samaj and Gorkha community who got the voting rights in assembly, urban local bodies and panchayat elections only after the abrogation of Article 370.

They have earlier voted in block development council and district development council polls in 2019 and 2020 respectively.

Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), Jammu zone, Anand Jain told PTI that adequate security arrangements have been put in place in the poll-bound areas to ensure “terror-free and peaceful” polling.

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Over 20,000 polling staff have been mobilised across seven districts of Jammu and Kashmir, PTI quoted officials as saying.

Amid tight security arrangements, election staff along with poll material left their respective district headquarters on Monday morning to take positions at their designated polling stations by this evening.

The voter turnout was robust in the earlier phases, with 61.38 per cent participation recorded in the first phase on September 18 and 57.31 per cent in the second phase on September 26.

This is the first assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir since the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution in August 2019, with the results set to be announced on October 8. This is also the first assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir since 2014, when voters gave a fractured mandate.

Assembly constituencies

According to J&K chief electoral officer Pandurang K Pole, more than 39.18 lakh voters are eligible to exercise their electoral franchise in the final phase across the 40 Assembly constituencies.

In Jammu division, Jammu district accounts for the highest number of 11 segments (Bishnah-SC, Suchetgarh-SC, R S Pura, Jammu South, Bahu, Jammu East, Nagrota, Jammu West, Jammu North, Akhnoor-SC and Chhamb), followed by six seats in Kathua district (Bani, Billawar, Basohli, Jasrota, Kathua-SC and Hiranagar), four in Udhampur district (Udhampur West, Udhampur East, Chenni and Ramnagar-SC) and three in Samba (Ramgarh-SC, Samba and Vijaypur).

Similarly in Kashmir division, 16 assembly constituencies including Karnah, Tregham, Kupwara, Lolab, Handwara and Langate fall in Kupwara district, Sopore, Rafiabad, Uri, Baramulla, Gulmarg, Wagoora-Kreeri and Pattan in Baramulla district and Sonawari, Bandipora, Gurez (ST) in Bandipora district.

Key candidates in fray

The prominent candidates in fray are former deputy chief ministers Tara Chand and Muzaffar Beig, People’s Conference chairman and former minister Sajjad Lone and National Panthers Party India president Dev Singh.

Other prominent candidates include former Jammu and Kashmir ministers Raman Bhalla (RS Pura), Usman Majid (Bandipora), Nazir Ahmad Khan (Gurez), Taj Mohiuddin (Uri), Basharat Bukhari (Wagoora-Kreeri), Imran Ansari (Pattan), Ghulam Hassan Mir (Gulmarg), and Choudhary Lal Singh (Basohli).

With inputs from agencies