Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir): The last phase of Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections in the 16 constituencies of the Kashmir valley will witness a tight contest among top candidates of the regional parties and close relatives in the polls. A total of 202 candidates are in the fray in the sixteen seats of the valley in the third and last phase to be held on Tuesday October 1.
Chief Electoral Officer of Jammu and Kashmir PK Pole said that 39.18 lakh voters are registered for the last phase in the 40 seats which are slated for polls. He said that 415 candidates are in the fray and 5,060 polling stations have been established across the seven districts of Jammu and Kashmir which are set for polling on Tuesday.
In Kashmir Division, 16 Assembly Constituencies, including Karnah, Trehgam, Kupwara, Lolab, Handwara, Langate, Sopore, Rafiabad, Uri, Baramulla, Gulmarg, Wagoora-Kreeri, Pattan, Sonawari, Bandipora and Gurez (ST), will vote on Tuesday.
In the Kupwara district, which has six assembly segments including Karnah, Trehgam, Kupwara, Lolab, Handwara and Langate, the contest will be a multilateral one between National Conference and People's Conference besides candidates of Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) as independents.
NC is locked in a direct contest with PC in Handwara, Trehgam and Karnah. PC's president and former minister Sajad Lone is contesting against five-time legislator and minister Choudhary Ramzan in Handwara constituency. Seven candidates are in the fray on this seat, but the main contest is between Lone and Ramzan. Lone defeated Ramzan in 2014 elections for the first time in assembly elections and became a minister in BJP-PDP coalition on BJP quota.
The constituency witnessed a fierce campaign in the last two weeks by Lone and NC's top leaders. In the recent parliamentary elections, Lone as parliament seat candidate from Baramulla had a lead of 10000 votes against NC's candidate Omar Abdullah. Member of Parliament Engineer Rashid who defeated both Lone and Omar by a huge margin of votes has fielded an independent candidate Abdul Majid Banday from his party the AIP. BJP and PDP candidates are also in the fray. But analysts predict a tough contest between Lone and Ramzan.
In Langate, the poll battle is between Engineer Rashid's brother Sheikh Khursheed and PC's candidate Irfan Ahmad Ganaie, while NC and Congress have fielded a joint candidate Irshad Ahmad Ganaie. Khursheed is banking on the support of his MP brother Engineer Rashid, while PC's Ganaie is relying on the development work he has done as chairman of the Kupwara district development council (DDC) and Sajad Lone's support. Ganaie's father, late Muhammad Sultan Ganaie (Panditpori) was MLA from Lanagate in 2002 on PDP ticket. The banned JeI is supporting Dr Kaleem ullah Lone, the son of JeI veteran Ghulam Qadir Lone.
In Karnah, which is on the Line of Control, the contest is between NC's Javaid Mirchal and PC's Dr Naseer Awam, a retired medical practitioner. Mirchal was MLC in 2014 on PDP quota but he joined Apni Party in 2020 when it was formed and before the assembly elections joined NC after he got the mandate. He is relying on NC's vote bank and his own support as a former MLC, while Dr Awan is banking on PC support and former NC MLA Kafeel Ur Rehman who is supporting Dr Awan after he was denied ticket by NC.
In Lolab, NC and PDP are locked in the contest where former minister of PDP Haq Khan has fielded his son, Waqar Khan, a lawyer. He is contesting against NC's former MLC Kaisar Jamsheed Lone, while PC has fielded a young science scholar Mudasir Akbar Shah. Shah is a former professor of National Institute of Technology Srinagar and was teaching in a Saudi Arab university before he joined the electoral fray. The Kupwara and Trehgam seats are witnessing a straight contest between PC and NC candidates. NC has fielded former home minister Nasir Sogami from Kupwara, and former minister Mir Saifullah from the newly carved out Trehgam seat. Sogami, who is originally from Sogam village of Lolab segment was contesting from Srinagar's Amira Kadal constituency, but was shifted by the NC leadership to Kupwara to contest from there. He is contesting against Sajad Lone. AIP has fielded spokesperson Firdous Baba on the seat. The young politician is contesting his maiden elections against Sogami and Lone. Mir Saifuallh is contesting against former MLA of PC Bashir Ahmad Dar.
In Baramulla district, which has seven segments of Sopore, Rafiabad, Uri, Baramulla, Gulmarg, Wagoora-Kreeri and Pattan, there too is a multilateral contest between NC-Congress alliance, PC , independants and PDP and close relatives. The Sopore segment which was a hotbed of militants and boycott will see a friendly contest between NC and Congress alliance. NC has fielded Irshad Ahmad Kar, son of former Congress president Ghulam Rasool Kar, while Congress has relied on the former MLA Abdul Rashid Dar. Several independent candidates including former separatists and brother of parliament convict Afzal Guru and banned Jamaat-i-Islami and AIP candidates are contesting from Sopore.
In Rafiabad, Apni Party candidate Yawar Mir is contesting in a trilateral contest with NC candidate Javaid Dar and PC candidate Gani Vakil. All three candidates are former legislators. Mir is the son of former NC leader Dilawar Mir, who joined PDP and then switched to Apni Party of Altaf Bukhari. AIP, JeI and other independents are in the fray too, but the main contest is between Dar, Vakil and Mir.
The Baramulla segment will see a close contest between the uncle Muzaffar Baig and his paternal nephew Javaid Baig. The senior Baig is contesting as independent after no party gave him the ticket, while the junior Baig is NC candidate. Both the Baigs rely on their work as former legislators, while the junior Baig banks on the NC cadre. PDP has fielded a retired teacher and trade union leader Rafiq Rather on the Baramulla seat, while former JeI member Abdul Rehman Shalla is also trying his luck. Former MLA Shoaib Lone is contesting as independent with AIP's support, while Congress has fielded Mir Iqbal, a young face of the party in Baramulla.
In Uri, former minister Taj Mohiuddin is contesting against NC Dr Sajjad Shafi. Taj is an independent candidate as he had left Congress in 2022 to join DPAP of Azad. Before elections he left the Azad's floundering party, hoping that Congress would offer him a ticket from Uri. But the Congress and NC shared the seat and fielded Dr Sajjad, who is the son of NC veteran Shafi Uri. In Gulmarg, NC has fielded former bureaucrat Farooq Shah against former minister Ghulam Hassan Mir. Mir was the founding member of PDP of late Mufti Sayeed, but he left the party before 2014 elections and in 2020 formed Apni Party with Altaf Bukhari. Mir's close relative Shabir Mir is contesting on PDP's ticket. The constituency will see a triangular contest among the two Mirs and Shah, while other independents are also contesting the seat.
In the Wagoora-Kreeri segment, which was renamed after Sangrama, former minister and two-time MLA Basharat Bukhari is locked in a triangular contest with Congress-NC alliance candidate Irfan Hafeez Lone and AIP candidate Naseer Rather. Muzaffar Baig's wife Safeena Baig is also in the fray as an independent, but she campaigned more for his husband in Baramulla than for herself in Wagoora-Kreeri.
In Pattan, former minister Imran Ansari, who is a PC candidate, is locked in a direct battle with former police officer Reyaz Bedar, who was fielded by NC. Apni Party, PDP and AIP too have fielded their candidates, but the main contest is between NC and Ansari.
In the three seats of Bandipora, NC and Congress alliance is locked in a direct battle with former MLA and minister Usman Majeed. Congress has fielded former PDP MLA Nizam-U-Din Bhat. Bhat had defeated Majeed from Bandipora in 2008 elections on a PDP ticket, but he had left PDP in 2020 and joined PC. However, he parted ways with Lone's PC before parliamentary elections and joined Congress last month when he got a ticket from Congress in the assembly elections. PDP has fielded former journalist Syed Tajamul, while the banned JeI is backing Hafiz Muhammad Sikander Malik. Malik was the former district president of JeI in Bandipora. He was jailed after abrogation of article 370 and is out on bail, with a GPS tracker monitoring his movement.
In Sonawari segment, Hilal Lone, the son of NC's former MP Akbar Lone is locked in a triangular contest with AIP's Yasir Reshi, and Imtiyaz Parray, the son of former MLA, late counterinsurgent Kuka Parray. Reshi was an MLC with PDP before he left it to join PC. He left PC recently and is now contesting as an independent candidate with AIP's support. Parray is contesting on Apni Party's ticket. '
The Gurez assembly segment, an Scheduled Tribe reserve seat, is locked in a bilateral contest between NC and BJP. NC has fielded former MLA Nazir Ahmad Khan (Gurezi) while BJP has fielded former PDP leader Fakir Muhammad Khan. Khan was with PDP and contested 1996 assembly elections as an independent in which he defeated Gurezi. In 2020, he joined BJP in Jammu. For Khan, defence minister Rajnath Singh campaigned for him in Gurez on the last day of campaigning on Sunday. PC has fielded a youth leader Hamza Lone.
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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