J&K Elections Phase 3: Sajad Lone, Aijaz Guru, Tara Chand Among Key Candidates | All You Need to Kno

J&K Polls Phase 3 Key Candidates: As many as 3.9 million eligible voters are set to cast their ballots, deciding the fate of 415 candidates in the third and final phase of the Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections. According to the Election Commission (RC), 40 seats across the union territory will go to the polls today. Among these seats, 24 are in Jammu while the remaining are in the valley. Voters are set to cast their franchise at 5,060 polling stations across seven districts. The voting is all set to commence at 7 am and will continue until 6 pm. Over 20,000 polling staff have been deployed for the final phase.

Jammu and Kashmir is holding its first assembly elections in a decade-long wait to elect a government after over six years of central government rule.

In the first phase on September 18 for 24 seats, a voter turnout of 61.13 per cent was recorded, while in the second phase, 56.95 per cent was recorded for voters across 25 seats.

The election contest is between the Bharatiya Janata Party ( BJP ) a Congress -National Conference ( Congress -NC) alliance and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Meanwhile, a last-minute alliance between Baramulla lawmaker Sheikh Abdul Rashid’s Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) and politico-religious outfit Jamaat-e-Islami — their candidates are contesting as Independents.

Key Candidates:

The final phase of the Jammu and Kashmir assembly polls includes some of the big names such as former deputy chief ministers Tara Chand and Muzaffar Baig, former ministers Taj Mohiuddin, Raman Bhalla, Basharat Bukhari and Sajad Lone. The race also includes Ajaz Ahmad Guru, brother of 2001 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.

Other prominent candidates include former ministers Usman Majid, Nazir Ahmad Khan, Taj Mohiuddin, Basharat Bukhari , Imran Ansari, Ghulam Hassan Mir, and Choudhary Lal Singh.
 

Key Constituencies:

The 16 assembly seats of Kashmir division voting include Karnah, Trehgam, Kupwara, Lolab, Handwara, Langate, Sopore, Rafiabad, Uri, Baramulla, Gulmarg, Wagoora-Kreeri, Pattan, Sonawari, Bandipora and Gurez (ST).

Furthermore, the  24 constituencies voting in Jammu include Udhampur West, Udhampur East, Chenani, Ramnagar (SC), Bani, Billawar, Basohli, Jasrota, Kathua (SC), Hiranagar, Ramgarh (SC), Samba, and Vijaypur, Bishnah (SC), Suchetgarh (SC), RS Pura, Jammu South, Bahu, Jammu East, Nagrota, Jammu West, Jammu North, Marh (SC), Akhnoor (SC) and Chhamb seat.

“In this phase, there are 5,060 polling stations across seven districts of Kupwara, Baramulla, Bandipora, Udhampur, Samba, Kathua and Jammu. More than 20,000 polling staff have been deployed on election duty for the final phase. A total of 3,918,220 voters are eligible to exercise their franchise. Of them, there are 2,009,033 male voters, 1,940,092 female voters and 57 third gender voters,” Jammu & Kashmir chief electoral officer PK Pole said.