JK Polls: Voting for 24 seats in the first phase tomorrow, more than 35000 Kashmiri Pandits will cast their votes
More than 35,000 displaced Kashmiri Pandits living across the country are eligible to vote at 24 polling stations in the first phase of assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir tomorrow i.e. on September 18. Elections are to be held on Wednesday for 24 assembly seats in seven districts of Jammu and Kashmir, for which a total of 219 candidates are in the fray. Displaced Kashmiri Pandits will be able to exercise their franchise in 16 assembly constituencies of Anantnag, Pulwama, Shopian and Kulgam districts of South Kashmir.
Relief and Rehabilitation Commissioner Dr Arvind Karwani said, “In the first phase of election tomorrow, 35,500 migrant Kashmiri voters are eligible to cast their votes at 24 special polling stations set up in Jammu, Udhampur and Delhi.” Dr Karwani, who is monitoring the election process, said that 34,852 migrant Kashmiri voters in Jammu are registered to exercise their franchise at 19 special polling stations in the region. He said that in Udhampur and Delhi, 648 migrant Kashmiri voters have registered to cast their votes at one special polling station in Udhampur and four in Delhi.
24 special booths for displaced people
Most of the displaced Kashmiri Pandits from the Kashmir Valley live in Delhi, but only around 600 have registered to vote in the elections. Dr. Karwani said, “All arrangements have been made to ensure free and fair voting tomorrow.” He said that security has been increased at all polling stations and all necessary arrangements have been made for elderly, women and disabled voters. He said, “Migrant Kashmiri voters who choose to vote in person through Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) will get this facility at 24 polling stations. These include 19 in Jammu, one in Udhampur and four in Delhi.”
6 candidates from Kashmiri Pandit community are in the fray
Six candidates from the Kashmiri Pandit community are trying their luck in the first phase of elections. Sanjay Saraf is contesting as a Lok Janshakti Party candidate from Anantnag seat. Along with this, Veer Saraf of BJP, MK Yogi of his party and independent Dilip Pandit are in the fray in Shangas-Anantnag assembly constituency. At the same time, Rosie Raina (Republic Party of India) and Arun Raina (Nationalist Congress Party) are trying their luck from Rajpora and Pulwama seats respectively.
219 candidates including Mehbooba’s daughter Iltija
In the first phase, around 23.27 lakh voters will exercise their franchise, including 5.66 lakh youth. This phase will also decide the fate of People’s Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti’s daughter Iltija Mufti (Srigufwara-Bijbehara), All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary and former minister Ghulam Ahmed Mir (Dooru), four-time MLA and veteran Communist Party of India (CPI-M) leader MY Tarigami (Kulgam), former minister and senior Congress leader Peerzada Sayeed (Anantnag) and National Conference (NC)’s Sakina Itoo (DH Pora). (With Bhasha inputs)
