Officers to be notified for segment-wise nominations
*Security, all other arrangements in place
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Aug 19: Process to hold Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir after over a decade and for the first time as the Union Territory will start tomorrow with the Election Commission issuing notification for first-phase of voting in 24 Assembly constituencies.
Twenty four seats will go to polling in first phase on September 18, 26 seats in second phase on September 25 and 40 seats in third and final phase on October 1.
Of 24 seats for which nominations will open tomorrow, 16 fall in Kashmir division and eight in Jammu division.
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Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) PK Pole told the Excelsior that notification for first phase of polling will be issued tomorrow. He said the Returning Officers will mention names of the officers in their notification where the candidates of different constituencies can file their nomination papers.
Final electoral rolls of Jammu and Kashmir are also likely to be published tomorrow.
In Jammu region, all eight Assembly constituencies of three districts of Doda region including Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban will go to polls in the first phase. The seats include Bhaderwah, Doda and Doda West (Doda district), Inderwal, Kishtwar and Padder-Nagseni (Kishtwar district) and Ramban and Banihal (Ramban district).
Deputy Commissioner Doda Harvinder Singh told the Excelsior that the candidates of Bhaderwah Assembly constituency can file their nomination papers in the office of Additional DC Bhaderwah while the aspirants for Doda seat will file their papers before ACR Doda and those from Doda West are likely to submit nominations in Assar.
However, names of the officers designated for receiving nomination papers in all three districts of Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban will be formally announced tomorrow, the officials said.
Sixteen Assembly constituencies of Kashmir division for which the nomination process will open tomorrow are Pampore, Tral, Pulwama, Rajpora, Zainapora, Shopian, DH Pora, Kulgam, Devsar, Dooru, Kokernag (ST), Anantnag West, Anantnag, Srigufwara-Bijbehara, Shangus-Anantnag East and Pahalgam.
In the last Assembly elections held in 2014; Doda, Ramban and Kishtwar districts had two seats each. However, following delimitation of Assembly constituencies, number of seats in Doda and Kishtwar districts has gone up from two to three. However, the constituencies remained same in Ramban district.
In 2014, out of six seats of Doda region, BJP had won four (Doda, Bhaderwah, Kishtwar and Ramban) while the Congress bagged two (Inderwal and Banihal). The National Conference and People’s Democratic Party (PDP) drew blank.
The candidates for all 24 seats going to votes in first phase can file nomination papers till August 27 while scrutiny of documents will take place the next day and the contestants can withdraw their papers till August 30. Polling in the first phase will be held on September 18.
All major political parties are, however, yet to announce their candidates.
Besides election preparedness, the administration is also busy in finalizing security arrangements for all 90 seats besides the political leaders and contestants. Security arrangements are being given final touches. However, they are already in place in most of the areas and will be further strengthened, the sources said.
There are 87.09 lakh voters at present in the Union Territory including 44.46 lakh males and 42.62 lakh females. However, final electoral rolls of the UT after Special Summary Revision are likely to be published tomorrow which could take total electorates close to 9 millions.
Number of the Polling Stations in Jammu and Kashmir is 11,838 including 2332 in urban areas and 9506 in rural areas.
Average voters per Polling Station stand at 735.
Since the Assembly elections are being held after nearly a decade, the Election authorities are expecting number of the candidates to be between 700 to 900. A number of Independent candidates are also expected to be in the fray.
Voting percentage which was brisk in the Lok Sabha elections held in April-May this year is likely to go up further as the Assembly polls generally witness more turnout than the Parliamentary elections, the officials said.
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