Jammu: The fate of 85 candidates, including a Congress minister, will be sealed by 8.04 lakh voters in nine Assembly constituencies in Jammu region going to polls on Tuesday in the second phase of the five-phased Legislative Assembly elections.
Polling will start at 8:00 am and will continue till 4:00 pm in all the 1,247 polling booths set up by the authorities. The campaign for this phase which ended on Sunday evening, remained by and large peaceful in all the constituencies, where 8,04,469 voters, including 3,75,154 women, are going to take part in the voting.
Ram Nagar constituency in Jammu's Udhampur district has the highest number of 107952 voters while Gool Arnas constituency in Reasi district has lowest 61361 electorates in 9 segments.
The nine constituencies going to poll in Jammu included three in Reasi district (Gulabgarh, Reasi and Gool Arnas), three in Udhampur district (Udhampur, Chenani and Ramnagar) and three in Poonch (Surankote, Mendhar and Poonch- Haveli).
Even though eying an inroad in the Valley to accomplish 'Mission 44-plus', Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded candidates on eight seats in Kashmir in this phase, the party has been hit by rebellion in the prestigious Udhampur constituency and Resi, where former BJP leaders are contesting the election as Independent candidates.
As many as 14 candidates are in the fray for Resi Assembly constituency, where BJP has dropped its sitting Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Baldev Raj Sharma and fielded Ajay Nanda. Sharma, who won 2008 Assembly election by a margin of 6,662 votes, is now contesting as an Independent after being denied a ticket by BJP. The other candidates include Om Parkash (CPI-M), Balwan Singh (JKNPP), Jagjiwan Lal (JKNC), Jugal Kishore (Congress), Karan Singh (BSP) and Anil Kumar, Bansi Lal, Rano Devi, Saraf Singh, Karnail Singh, Kuldeep Singh and Meenakshi Sharma all are Independent candidates.
Ten candidates are in the fray for Udhampur constituency, which will witness multi-corner contest. BJP has been hit by rebellion in the constituency, where its former leader Pawan Gupta has decided to contest as an independent candidate after he was denied ticket. Gupta will be contesting against two times NPP MLA Balwant Singh Mankotia and BJP nominee Pawan Khajuria. Other candidates include Ashok Kumar Gupta (INC), Ranjit Singh (BSP), Sukhdev Sharma (J&K PDP), Sunil Verma (J&K NC), Dharam Paul (Hindustan Janta Party), while as Anil Khajuria and Soma are Independent candidates.
In Gulabgarh, seven candidates including NC's Abdul Gani Malik, who is seeking re-election for the third time, are in the fray for the constituency. Malik won the 2008 elections by a margin of 3,248 votes. Other candidates include Bashir-Ud-Din (JKNPP), Pardeep Singh (BJP), Jawahar Singh (BSP), Shafiq-Ur-Rehman (PDP), Mumtaz Ahmed (INC) and Shaber Ahmed (Hindustan Janta Party).
In Goll Arnas, 10 candidates including Congress leader Ajaz Ahmed Khan, who is seeking re-election for the third time from the constituency, are in the fray. Khan in 2008 won the seat by a margin of 3452 votes. Other candidates include Imtiyaz Ahmed Shan (PDP), Shiban (BSP), Shakeel Ahmed (JKNPP), Shamshad Bano (NC), Kuldeep Raj Dubey (BJP) and Arjun Singh, Romail Singh, Abdul Rehman and Gulzar Ahmed Wani as Independent.
In Chenani constituency, seven candidates including Congress MLA Krishan Chander, who is seeking re-election, are in the fray for the Assembly polls. Chander in 2008 elections won the seat by a margin of 6,438 votes. Other candidates include Ram Atri (JKNPP), Dina Nath (BJP), Sansar Chand (NC), Mohinder Kumar (BSP), Hans Raj (PDP) and Pushpa Devi (SP).
Six candidates are in the fray for Ramnagar constituency, which is a strong hold of NPP. NPP candidate Harsh Dev Singh, who is seeking re-election for the fourth time, in 2008 won by a margin of 12,146 votes. The other candidates include Raj Kapoor (NC), Ranbir Singh Pathania (BJP), Prof Sukham Chand (BSP), Vinod Kumar Sharma (INC) and Sanju Kumar (Independent).
In Surankote, 10 candidates including Congress leader Mohammad Aslam, who is seeking re-election, are in the fray for the constituency. Other candidates include Mohammad Taj Khan (BJP), Naseer-Ul-Islam Ahmed (BSP), Ashfaq Rana (JKNPP), Iqbal Hussain Shah (PDP), Mushtaq Ahmed Shah (JKNC), Javid Ahmed (All India forward block), Ayaz Ahmed Mughal (Independent) Mohammad Shah (Independent) and Mohammad Sadiq Qureshi (Independent).
As many as 11 candidates are in the fray for Mendhar constituency. The candidates are Javed Ahmed Rana (NC), Zulfqar Hussain Khan (BJP), Mohd Shafeeq Khan (BSP), Mohd Tariq Khan (J&KNPP), Mohd Mahroof Khan (J&KPDP), Murtaza Ahmed Khan (INC), Mushtaq Ahmed (Pir Panjal Awami Party), Abdul Majeed Chowan, (Independent), Mohd Sharief Khan (Independent), Nisar Ahmed Khan (Independent) and Nisar Hussain Shah (Independent).
In Haveli Assembly constituency, 10 candidates are in the fray including Ashfaq Ahmed (BSP), Ajaz Ahmed Jan (NC), Ch Bashir Ahmed Naz (INC), Pardeep Sharma (BJP), Shah Mohd Tantray (PDP), Mohd Rashid (JKNPP), Mohd Younis (J&K Pir Panjal Awami Party), Javid Iqbal Reshi (Independent), Chaudhary Abdul Ghani (Independent) and Mohd Kabir Qureshi (Independent).
(Abid Soffi is the Managing Editor 'Kashmir Pioneer'. He lives in Srinagar.)
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