Will ensure free, fair, peaceful polls: IGP
Fayaz Bukhari
Srinagar, May 19: Ahead of voting in Baramulla Parliamentary constituency tomorrow with 17.37 lakh registered voters, poll parties were today dispatched to the Polling Stations amid tight security.
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More than 500 centenarians are among the 17.37 lakh voters where huge crowds thronged to election rallies and roadshows, the polling percentage is likely to be higher from that of previous elections.
The first major political battle post the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019 will decide the fate of the National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah, and 21 others including 14 Independents in the fray.
Abdullah faces the biggest challenge from separatist-turned-politician and former Minister Sajad Lone, who heads the People’s Conference. The jailed Awami Ittehad Party leader and former MLA Abdul Rashid Sheikh alias Engineer Rashid whose party drew lot of people to his rallies and roadshows has made the contest interesting.
The People’s Democratic Party has fielded former Rajya Sabha member Mohammad Fayaz Mir while Muneer Khan, the brother of jailed separatist leader Nayeem Ahmad Khan, is contesting as an Independent.
There has been massive campaigning in the constituency with large numbers of people attending the rallies and roadshows. Even the BJP which has not fielded any candidate in the constituency campaigned. The election authorities gave permission for 1,859 rallies, meetings and roadshows while 300 applications were rejected.
Given the huge turnout at the rallies and roadshows, Baramulla is likely to break turnout records in Kashmir.
In 2019, the constituency recorded 34.17 per cent polling with Kupwara district registering the highest turnout at 51.7 per cent, followed by Bandipora at 31.8 per cent and Baramulla at 24 per cent. The constituency is spread over 18 Assembly segments in the three districts of Kupwara, Baramulla and Bandipora and also includes two segments of Budgam that were included on the recommendations of the Delimitation Commission two years ago.
According to Election Commission officials, 17.37 lakh people are eligible to cast their votes at 2,103 Polling Stations.
“There are 527 persons above the age of 100 who are eligible to exercise their franchise. There are 8,75,831 (8.75 lakh) male and 8,62,000 (8.62 lakh) female voters, besides 34 from the third gender. More than 17,000 voters are persons with disabilities,” they said.
More than 8,000 polling staff, including reserves, have been deployed at the Polling Stations to ensure smooth conduct of the polls, the officials said and added that 28 Polling Stations are located in the border areas of Kupwara and Baramulla districts.
Voting will be held from 7:00 am to 6:00 pm.
There are 18 polling booths managed by women, 17 manned by specially-abled persons and 18 by youngsters. To spread messages on the environment, the authorities have also set up 21 green polling booths.
Meanwhile, IGP Kashmir VK Birdi today directed the police officers to maintain alertness, display professionalism, and ensure successful elections. He said that all measures have been taken to ensure free, fair and peaceful elections.
He visited all the districts of North Kashmir Range where he reviewed the security arrangements, law and order situation and election preparedness.
During his visit, IGP Kashmir accompanied by DIG NKR Vivek Gupta met all the district SSPs and other zonal and sector police officers. He also checked the distribution of polling material and supervised the dispatch of polling parties.
All the SSPs briefed the IGP Kashmir about the deployment plans, security and contingency arrangements and polling party management.
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