Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Sept 7: Former Minister and BJP candidate Pawan Gupta was among the candidates who filed their nomination papers today for third phase of elections scheduled on October 1.
Notification for third phase of polling was issued on September 5 while September 12 is last date for filing of nomination papers and scrutiny will be held the next day. September 17 is last date for withdrawal of the nominations.
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Twenty four Assembly constituencies of Jammu division are going to polls in third and last phase of elections including 11 in Jammu district, six in Kathua, four in Udhampur and three in Samba district.
The Congress is yet to announce its list for all 24 seats of third phase while the BJP has cleared candidates for most of the constituencies, barring few.
Former Ministers and BJP candidate from Udhampur West Pawan Gupta today filed nomination papers before the Returning Officer. He was joined by Union Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Dr Jitendra Singh, who is also Lok Sabha member from Udhampur-Kathua-Doda constituency.
Gupta had won Udhampur seat as an Independent candidate in 2014 after being denied the BJP mandate. However, later he rejoined the BJP and served as the Minister. His main political rival JKNPP’s Balwant Singh Mankotia, who finished second, has since joined the BJP and is the party’s candidate from Chenani constituency.
An Independent candidate Soma also filed his nomination papers today from Udhampur East segment. The BJP is yet to name its candidate for Udhampur East.
Rajan Jamwal and Surinder Atri today joined the electoral fray from Samba and Ramgarh constituencies respectively in Samba district.
With tomorrow being Sunday, the pace of nominations is expected to be picked up from Monday for 24 seats of the Jammu division especially after release of list of candidates by the Congress.
Yesterday, two BJP candidates including Vijay Sharma from Hiranagar and Darshan Singh from Basohli filed the nomination papers.
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