Zania-Editor
The beautiful valley of Jammu and Kashmir is gearing up for assembly elections for the first time in ten years. The Election Commission of India (ECI) has announced that the elections will take place in three phases. The first phase started on Wednesday, September 18, with the next phases set for September 25 and October 1. The counting of votes will happen on October 8.
In this first phase, more than 23 lakh voters are expected to participate. There are 19 candidates contesting, including 90 independents, across 24 assembly seats. Eight of these seats are in three districts of the Jammu region, while 16 are in four districts of the Kashmir valley. To ensure everything runs smoothly, the ECI has deployed 14,000 polling staff at 3,276 polling stations.
On polling day, Prime Minister Modi and Union Minister Amit Shah encouraged the people of Jammu and Kashmir to come out and vote, aiming for a high turnout.
Some notable candidates in the Kashmir region include Iltija Mufti, the daughter of PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti; Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami from the CPI (M); and Ghulam Ahmad Mir from the Congress party. In Jammu, key candidates include former ministers Sajjad Kitchloo and Khalid Najib Suharwardy from the National Conference, Vikar Rasool Wani from Congress, Abdul Majid Wani from DPAP, Sunil Sharma from the BJP, Shakti Raj Parihar from Doda West, and Ghulam Mohammad Saroori, a three-time MLA running as an independent.
This election marks the first assembly voting in Jammu and Kashmir since Article 370 was revoked in August 2019. The ECI has ensured that 14,000 polling staff are present to facilitate the voting process.
In this first phase, approximately 5.66 lakh young voters are ready to cast their votes today.
editor_nz
