Kulgam (Jammu and Kashmir): The first phase of assembly elections concluded today with nearly 60 per cent voters casting their vote out of the 23 lakh registered voters.
Among the hot seats in the 24 Assembly constituencies which went to polls today, the Kulgam constituency saw a close contest between the communist leader Muhammad Yousuf Rather alias Tarigami and the banned religio-political organisation Jammat-e-Islami backed independent candidate Sayar Reshi.
At his home in Kulgam, Tarigami felt nervous after the conclusion of the voting as he confessed that the Jammat-e-Islami-backed candidate gave him a "strong contest" for the first time in Assembly elections that he has contested since 1996.
Tarigami has won four elections on a trot since 1996 against National Conference and Peoples Democratic Party candidates. In the ongoing Assembly elections, JeI cadre fully supported Reshi and the campaigning saw a heated exchange of religious slogans coloured with developmental manifestos.
Tarigami said that though he is not an astrologer to declare his win but he thinks that he will be given another chance by the people of Kulgam to represent them. "The kind of response I got during the campaigning and polling today, I am confident that I may get another (term) for the fifth time," he told ETV Bharat.
Tarigami raised suspicion over the Jammat for its participation in the Assembly elections saying that "Jammat is not free and their reins are somewhere else".
He said that they should have participated in the elections only after when the government of India had lifted a ban on them.
