Poll campaigning ends for Udhampur, Srinagar seats

Over 29.81 lakh voters to decide fate of 24 candidates in Srinagar, Udhampur; 4,426 polling stations set up in twin constituencies for smooth polling

17/04/2019

JAMMU, Apr 16: The campaigning for prestigious Udhampur and Srinagar Lok Sabha seats, going to the polls on April 18 in the second phase of elections, came to an end Tuesday.
Srinagar Lok Sabha seat comprises three districts of Jammu and Kashmir Srinagar, Budgam and Ganderbal. It was relatively a low key campaign here with only National Conference president Farooq Abdullah, who is seeking a fourth term in the lower house of Parliament from here, making his presence felt as a candidate.
Abdullah is pitched against political greenhorns Aga Moshin of the PDP, Irfan Ansari of the People's Conference and Khalid Jehangir of the BJP.
An election official said there were only 46 rallies in Srinagar district, a city of over 12 lakh residents, during the campaign period.
"The campaign period remained by and large peaceful," he added. He said 16 complaints of the violation of model code of conduct were received and the action was taken in nine of them.
The polling on Thursday will be keenly watched within and outside Kashmir as the constituency recorded an all-time low of 7.2 per cent voter turn out in 2017 bye-election, marred by violence on polling day that left nine persons dead and scores of others injured.
This will be first major election since a shawl weaver from Utlipora in Budgam district was used as a human shield by an army officer to save his men from a stone-pelting mob on the election day.
Over 29.81 lakh voters will decide the fate of 24 candidates contesting for Srinagar and Udhampur Parliamentary seats, the polling for which is scheduled on April 18-the second Phase of Lok Sabha elections 2019.
The twin constituencies have 2,981,083 registered electors including 1,543,571 males, 1,416,387 females, 21,056 service voters (20,780 males and 276 females) and 69 transgender voters.
Twelve candidates each are in fray for both Srinagar and Udhampur parliamentary constituencies. For smooth conduct of polls, 4,426 polling stations have been set up in the twin constituencies.
SRINAGAR PC
The constituency is spread over 15 Assembly segments comprising three districts of Central Kashmir-Ganderbal, Srinagar and Budgam with 1,295,304 registered voters including 1,294,560 General voters and 744 service voters.
Among the general voters, 667,252 are males and 627,282 female electors. Among service voters, 728 are males and 16 females, while there are 26 transgender voters. The authorities have set up 1716 polling stations across the Parliamentary constituency to facilitate the polling.
The candidates in the fray are Sheikh Khalid Jehangir of Bharatiya Janata Party, Aga Syed Mohsin of J&K Peoples Democratic Party, Abdul Rashid Ganie of J&K National Panthers Party, Dr Farooq Abdullah of Jammu and Kashmir National Conference, Showkat Hussain Khan of Janta Dal United, Abdul Khaliq Bhat of Shiv Sena, Irfan Raza Ansari of J&K People''s Conference, Nazir Ahmad Lone of Rashtriya Jankranti Party, Nazir Ahmad Sofi of Manavadikar National Party, while Bilal Sultan, Sajjad Ahmad Dar, Abdul Rashid Banday are contesting as independent candidates.
In 2017 By-Elections, the electoral strength in the constituency was 1,261,395. The By-Elections witnessed the victory of National Conference's Dr Farooq Abdullah by defeating his close rival Nazir Khan of People's Democratic Party (PDP) candidate by 10,766 votes. The seat was left vacant after Tariq Hamid Karra's resignation.
UDHAMPUR PC
In Udhampur Parliamentary constituency, those in fray are Tilak Raj Bhagat of Bhujan Samaj Party, Dr. Jitendra Singh of Bhartiya Janata Party, Vikramaditya Singh of Indian National Congress, Harsh Dev Singh of JKNPP, Ch. Lal Singh of Dogra Swabhiman Sangathan Party, Mohammad Ayub of Navrang Congress Party, Meenakshi of Shiv Sena and Bansi Lal, Rakesh Mudgal, Shaber Ahmad, Garib Singh and Firdous Ahmed all independents.
The constituency is spread over 17 Assembly segments comprising six districts of Kishtwar, Doda, Ramban, Reasi, Udhampur and Kathua.
The Udhampur parliamentary seat has 16, 85,779 electors of which 1,665,467 are registered as general voters and 20,312 as service voters.
Among the General voters, 876,319 are males and 789,105 females. The service voters include 20,052 males and 260 females, and 43 transgender electors.
For the smooth conduct of election in the PC, the Election Commission of India has established 2,710 polling stations. In 2014 General Elections, the number of voters in the constituency was 14,69,072.
The last parliamentary election was won by Dr. Jitendra Singh of Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) by defeating his nearest rival Ghulam Nabi Azad of Congress. Singh secured 487,369 votes while Azad managed to bag 426,393 votes. The polling will be held on April 18 in both the constituencies of the state. The voting hours have been fixed from 7AM to 6 PM.

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