Jammu/Srinagar: Voting began on Tuesday for the third and last phase of the assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir, in which over 39 lakh electors will decide the fate of 415 candidates in the fray from 40 constituencies spread across seven districts amidst tight security arrangements, officials here said.
The Assembly constituencies comprise three districts (Kupwara,Baramulla and Bandipora) in the Kashmir Valley and four districts (Jammu, Udhampur, Kathua and Samba) in the Jammu division.
Enthusiastic voters reached the polling booths and stood in queues waiting for their turn to exercise their right to franchise as the voting started at 7 AM and will end at 6 PM.
While the Baramulla Assembly Segment of North Kashmir leads with the highest 25 candidates in the poll fray, the Akhnoor Assembly constituency of Jammu district will witness a contest among three candidates only during this phase.
J&K is voting for the first time in an Assembly election in a decade. The last assembly polls were held in 2014.
This is also the first Assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir since the abrogation of Article 370, which gave the erstwhile state special status, in 2019.
In the first phase (September 18) of polls, about 61 percent of the electorate in Jammu and Kashmir turned out to vote. In the second phase (September 25), total voter turnout was 57.3 percent.
There are several notable candidates whose fate will be decided, and there are over nearly two dozen former ministers and lawmakers whose fate will be sealed on Tuesday.
The key candidates include former deputy chief minister and Congress leader Tara Chand, who is contesting from the Chhamb Assembly constituency; former ministers Yogesh Sawhney contesting as Congress candidate from Jammu East, Manohar Lal from Congress contesting from Billawar, former minister Ajay Sadhotra contesting as National Conference candidate from Jammu North, former deputy chief minister Muzaffar Hussain Baig, who is fighting as an independent candidate from Baramulla; Sajad Lone of the Peoples Conference; Bashaarat Bukhari of the Peoples Democratic Party; Choudhary Ramazan of the National Conference; Sham Lal Sharma and Devender Singh Rana of the Bhartiya Janta Party; and Choudary Lal Singh of Congress, Usman Majeed, among others.
In Kashmir, all eyes will be on the Awami Ittehad Party (AIP), headed by Member Parliament Abdul Rashid Sheikh, popularly known as Engineer Rashid, who was released from Tihar jail on interim bail and rigorously campaigned for the assembly polls.
According to the latest electoral rolls, 39,18,220 voters are eligible to cast their ballots in this phase, comprising 20,09,033 male voters, 19,09,130 female voters, and 57 third-gender voters.
Underlining the significance of the role to be played by the youth of Jammu and Kashmir in strengthening the democracy, as many as 1.94 lakh youth voters aged 18 to 19 are eligible to vote in the third phase, said an official.
He said that this phase will also see participation from 35,860 Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) and 32,953 voters above the age of 85.
To facilitate the voters for smooth and hassle-free electoral participation, Election Commission of India (ECI) has established 5,060 polling stations with 100 percent webcasting across 40 Assembly constituencies, and they also said that there will be 45 green polling stations in order to spread messages about environmental concerns, 29 polling stations will be established near the LOC and IB for residents residing there, and 33 Unique Polling stations.
A total of 24 special Polling Stations have been established for Migrant Voters of Kashmir Division, which includes 19 Special Polling Stations in Jammu, four in Delhi, and one in Udhampur District.
Security personnel comprising police, armed police, and central armed paramilitary forces have been deployed in strength around the polling stations.
A multi-tier security blanket has been thrown around each polling station to ensure the voting for the second phase is held in an atmosphere free of fear, they added.