Srinagar: The campaigning ended on Sunday for the third phase of Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir as top leaders of Bharatiya Janata Party, Congress and National Conference took out rallies in the 40 segments, which are slated for voting on October 1. Voting will be held in 40 assembly constituencies, including 24 in Jammu, Samba and Kathua in the Jammu province and 16 seats in Kupwara, Baramulla and Bandipora districts in the Kashmir Valley.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh addressed an election rally in Kupwara's Karnah seat and Gurez in Bandipora district while Congress president Malikarjun Kharge addressed rallies in Ramnagar and in Jasrota constituencies in Kathua district and senior Congress leader Sachin Pilot also addressed a rally in three segments of Jammu.
The former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir and National Conference vice-president addressed a rally in the Handwara assembly segment in Kupwara. Dozens of rallies and meetings were held in the 40 assembly segments by the candidates, who are contesting elections in the last phase.
Peoples Democratic Party president and former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Mehbooba Mufti has suspended her poll rallies for the last phase following the killing of Hizbullah chief Hassan Nasrullah by Isreal on Saturday. Shia leader and Member of Parliament from Srinagar Aga Ruhullah Mehdi also called off his campaign rallies in mourning of Hassan Nasrallah's death. Both leaders were today scheduled to address rallies in Kupwara and Baramulla districts.
The third and last phase of the polls saw a high voltage campaign in Jammu and Kashmir seats as main opponents BJP and Congress are directly locked in the contest on the 24 seats in Jammu, Samba and Kathua. In Kashmir, NC, Peoples Conference and MP Engineer Rashid’s independent candidates are locked in multilateral contests in Kupwara, Baramulla and Bandipora districts.
As per the Chief Electoral Officer of Jammu and Kashmir PK Pole, more than 39.18 lakh voters are eligible to exercise their franchise during the last phase of the elections. Pole said that 415 candidates are in the fray and 5,060 polling stations and 240 special polling stations have been established across the seven districts where polling is being held on Tuesday.
In Kashmir Division, 16 Assembly Constituencies, including Karnah, Tregham, Kupwara, Lolab, Handwara, Langate, Sopore, Rafiabad, Uri, Baramulla, Gulmarg, Wagoora-Kreeri, Pattan, Sonawari, Bandipora and Gurez (ST), will vote on Tuesday.
In the Jammu division, 24 Assembly constituencies comprising Udhampur West, Udhampur East, Chennai, Ramnagar (SC), Bani, Billawar, Basohli, Jasrota, Kathua( SC), Hiranagar, Ramgarh(SC), Samba, Vijaypur, Bishnah(SC), Suchetgarh(SC), R.S Pura, Jammu South, Bahu, Jammu East, Nagrota, Jammu West, Jammu North, Akhnoor(SC), Chhamb will also go to the polls in this phase.
He said that elaborate security and administrative arrangements have been made for peaceful and transparent conduct of the elections. The first two phases of the ongoing assembly elections were held on September 18 and 25. Counting will be held on October 8.
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