Jehangir Rashid
Early times Report
SRINAGAR, Apr 22: Stage is all set for the first phase of three phase elections for the South Kashmir's Anantnag parliamentary seat as elections are being held in the Anantnag district are being held on Tuesday (April 23).
The elections are unprecedented since it is for the first time that elections are being held in three phases for single parliamentary seat. While Anantnag district would go to polls on April 23 elections in Kulgam and Pulwama and Shopian districts would be held on April 29 and May 6 respectively with the poll timing being from 7AM to 4 PM.
The district is spread over six assembly segments comprising Anantnag, Dooru, Kokernag, Shangus, Bijbehara and Pahalgam. This South Kashmir District has 529256 electors including 269603 males, 257540 females, 2102 service electors (2091 male and 11 female) and 11 transgender voters. For smooth polling, the ECI has setup 714 polling stations in the district.
The candidates in the fray are Hasnain Masoodi of National Conference, Sofi Yousuf of Bharatiya Janta Party, Ghulam Ahmad Mir of Indian National Congress, Mehbooba Mufti of Jammu Kashmir People's Democratic Party, Nisar Ahmad Wani of Jammu & Kashmir National Panthers Party, Ch. Zaffar Ali of Jammu Kashmir People's Conference, Sanjay Kumar Dhar of Manav Adhikar Party, Surinder Singh of Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) and Imtiyaz Ahmad Rather, Ridwana Sanam, Riyaz Ahmad Bhat, Zubair Masoodi, Shams Khwaja, Ali Mohammad Wani, Gh Mohammad Wani, Kyasir Ahmed Sheikh, Manzoor Ahmad Khan and Mirza Sajad Hussain Beigh, all independents.
Kokernag assembly segment has the highest number of 93874 voters (48742 males, 44948 females and 180 service voters) while as Dooru has the lowest 79029 electors, including 40764 males, 37889 females and 374 service voters.
Assembly segment of Bijbehara has 93516 voters (47067 males, 46222 females and 227 service voters), Shangus 89405 voters (45360 males, 43010 females and 1031 service voters), Pahalgam 86735 (44115 males, 42498 females and 121 service voters) and Anantnag 86699 (43555 males, 42973 females and 169 service voters).
Bijbehara assembly segment has highest number of 46225 female voters where as Shangus has a total of 1031 service electors which are highest in the district.
Meanwhile, four candidates are in fray for the Ladakh Parliamentary Constituency after three candidates withdrew their nomination on the last day, today.
The candidates left in fray include Rigzin Spalbar of Indian National Congress, Jamyang Tsering Namgyal of Bhartiya Janata Party, besides Asgar Ali Karbalai and Sajjad Hussain both fighting as independents.
The candidates who withdrew their nomination included Tsering Namgyal, Kacho Mohammad Feroz and Asgar Ali. Ladakh Parliamentary Constituency is going to polls on May 6 -the fifth phase of General Elections 2019. |
