news details |
|
|
| Campaigning ends peacefully in Jammu-Poonch constituency | | | Kunal Shrivatsa
JAMMU, Apr 8: Hectic campaigning for the Jammu-Poonch Lok Sabha seat, largest among all the parliamentary constituencies in the State which comprise more than 17.5 lakh voters and spread across 20 Assembly constituencies in four districts of Jammu, Poonch, Rajouri and Samba, peacefully ended today.
With canvassing ended this evening at 6, the hullabaloo associated with the electioneering came to stand still. From now onwards till the time polling starts at 7 am on April 10, all the candidates including representatives of political parties and independents will now have to spread their message in a hush-hush manner or rely on the option of resorting to door to door campaign to woo the voters as they have no other choice but to knock the doors of the electorates.
Moreover, after the campaign ended, the action of candidates has come under direct scanner of Election Commission as every activity of theirs is being closely monitored for the next 37 hours.
All those in the fray are under constant vigil of Election Commission as stringent measures have been put into place by it to check any poll violation.
Flying Squads of Election Commission are out there in Jammu, Samba, Rajouri and Poonch districts to sniff any breach of model code of conduct by respective party as well as independent candidates.
Since it was the final day of the campaigning, every single political party and independents had a busy schedule. The candidates held a series of election rallies and public meetings in a last ditch effort to persuade the electorates to vote in their favour.
Although there are as many as 19 candidates belonging to different national and regional parties viz a viz independents are in the fray in the largest among the six Lok Sabha constituencies in J&K, the main battle is among the nominees of Congress, Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) and Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP), who are locked in a triangular contest.
The political heavy weights including sitting Member Parliament (MP) of Congress Madan Lal Sharma seeking re-election for the third consecutive term, State BJP president and MLA from Nagrota Assembly segment Jugal Kishore Sharma and veteran PDP leader and MLC Yashpal Sharma are trying their luck at the hustings.
Though Madan Lal of the Congress is enjoying the support of National Conference (NC), he is, undoubtedly, up against a challenging opposition in the shape of BJP's Jugal Kishore and PDP's Yashpal Sharma.
The State unit of BJP and its candidate Jugal Kishore Sharma is one of the main contenders posing a threat to Congress since Narendra Modi's charisma is swaying the nation.
PDP's Yashpal Sharma, who hails from Poonch district which is one of the four districts comprising this Lok Sabha constituency, is not somebody either the Congress or the BJP can afford to take lightly.
Political pundits observe that Yashpal Sharma could emerge as a 'dark horse' from this constituency since he is a refugee and has strong foothold among about one lakh refugees residing in Jammu-Poonch belt.
Another, plus point with Yashpal Sharma is that he has clean image, has down to earth personality while he is equally popular and acceptable among Hindus and Muslims of the area.
People in twin border districts of Poonch and Rajouri still admire him for his tireless work in maintaining and strengthening communal harmony during peak of militancy in early 90s, observers said. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
STOCK UPDATE |
|
|
 |
| BSE
Sensex |
 |
| NSE
Nifty |
|
|
| |
CRICKET UPDATE |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
