Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Dec 18: Record number of 18.28 lakh electorates would vote in 20 Assembly segments in fifth and final phase of polling on December 20 and seal the fate of highest 213 candidates in the fray including five sitting Ministers, several former Ministers, legislators and ex-Members of Parliament (MPs) apart from bigwigs of various political parties.
With December 20 polling in 20 constituencies of three districts in Jammu region-Jammu, Kathua and Rajouri, polling for all 87 Assembly seats will conclude. Counting of the votes will be held on December 23 for all seats. Campaigning for the fifth and final phase ended at 6 pm today.
Of 213 candidates in fray, Jammu district has highest number of 117 for 11 Assembly constituencies followed by Kathua with 54 for five seats and Rajouri 42 for four segments.
Official sources told the Excelsior that the Election Commission has set up 2366 polling stations -the highest being 1224 in Jammu district, 625 in Kathua and 517 in Rajouri-for 18,28,904 electorates including 9,59,011 male and 8,69,891 females apart from two Third Genders.
Jammu district accounted for 10.10 lakh electorates including 5.23 lakh male and 4.87 lakh females while Kathua district has 4.32 lakh voters, of which, 5,68,83 were male and 5,07,74 were females. District Rajouri has 3.85 lakh voters including 2.04 lakh male and 1.81 lakh females.
Of 20 constituencies going to polls on Saturday, six segments have over one lakh votes.
Gandhi Nagar Assembly segment hold the record of highest number of 1,68,643 electorates among all 87 Assembly seats in Jammu and Kashmir followed by 1,53,540 in Jammu West. Lowest number of electorates in the final phase was 41506 in hilly Bani segment of Kathua district. Three other segments with over one lakh electorates were Kathua (1,12,083), Hiranagar (1,07,657) and Rajouri (1,13,757).
Gandhi Nagar constituency also holds the record of highest number of 172 polling stations followed by 171 in Jammu West. Suchetgarh constituency in Jammu district has lowest number of 70 polling stations only.
Jammu West and Kathua Assembly seats have highest number of 15 candidates each while Kalakote constituency in Rajouri district has lowest number of seven candidates in the fray.
In 2008 Assembly elections, Marh had recorded highest voting turnout of 81.97 per cent while lowest turnout among 20 constituencies was registered in Jammu East (60.71 per cent). Bani had recorded voting percentage of 74.46, Basohli 69.39, Kathua 67.22, Billawar 71.39, Hiranagar 64.66, Nagrota 79.33, Gandhi Nagar 64.15, Jammu West 60.86, Bishnah 75.40, RS Pura 76.56, Suchetgarh 79.80, Raipur Domana 70.55, Akhnoor 79.68, Chhamb 78.35, Nowshera 73.01, Darhal 77.36, Rajouri 70.12 and Kalakote 73.47.
Five sitting Ministers-four from Congress and one from National Conference, several former Ministers, sitting and ex-legislators, former Members of Parliament (MPs) and bigwigs of various political parties were in the fray for high profile 20 constituencies.
The NC and Congress have fielded all their sitting Ministers, MLAs and almost all losers of 2008 for 20 seats while the BJP has dropped its seven sitting MLAs and brought in various new faces on 20 seats. The PDP has also fielded new faces in some of the seats.
Prominent among those, whose fate will be sealed by the electorates in final phase polling included Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand (Chhamb), PHE Minister Sham Lal Sharma (Akhnoor), Planning Minister Ajay Sadhotra (Marh), Housing Minister Raman Bhalla (Gandhi Nagar), Cooperatives Minister Dr Manohar Lal Sharma (Billawar), sitting MLAs and bigwigs Sham Choudhary (Suchetgarh), Sukhnandan Choudhary (Marh), Shabir Khan (Rajouri), RS Sharma (Nowshera), Rashpal Singh (Kalakote), Choudhary Zulfikar (PDP), Devender Singh Rana (Nagrota), Dr Nirmal Singh (Billawar), Jagdish Raj Sapolia (Basohli), Ashwani Sharma (Bishnah), BR Kundal (RS Pura) and Choudhary Talib Hussain (Rajouri).
BJP has fielded first timers in all three Jammu City seats including Kavinder Gupta (Gandhi Nagar), Sat Sharma CA (Jammu West) and Rajesh Gupta (Jammu East).
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