Canvassing for 8 Doda seats to end today
Fate of 64 candidates to be decided
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Sept 15: Campaigning for eight seats of Doda region which will go to polls in first phase of Assembly elections in Jammu division on September 18 will come to an end tomorrow evening with contestants making last ditch efforts to woo electorates.
The BJP is the only party whose senior leaders canvassed vigorously in Doda region.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a rally in Doda yesterday for all eight candidates while Union Home Minister Amit Shah will address three rallies in the region tomorrow including one each at Paddar-Nagseni, Kishtwar and Ramban.
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Defence Minister Rajnath Singh also addressed two rallies-one each at Ramban and Banihal. Union Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Dr Jitendra Singh, who represents Doda in the Lok Sabha, BJP general secretary, Incharge J&K Tarun Chugh and former Union Minister and Lok Sabha MP from Himachal Pradesh Anurag Thakur also addressed series of rallies in different areas of Doda region.
Leader of Opposition (LOP) Rahul Gandhi addressed one rally at Gool falling under Banihal Assembly segment. Excepting him, no senior leader of the Congress visited the region for campaigning.
From National Conference, only Omar Abdullah, former Chief Minister and party vice president campaigned in Doda belt while Dr Farooq Abdullah paid no visit to any of the eight constituencies. PDP president Mehbooba Mufti too didn’t campaigned in Doda region though having fielded candidates.
While campaigning will end on all eight seats of Doda belt tomorrow evening, the candidates can opt for door-to-door canvassing. Polling will be held on September 18 while counting for all 90 seats of the UT will take place on October 4.
Eight seats where campaign will end tomorrow include Kishtwar, Paddar-Nagseni and Inderwal in Kishtwar district, Doda, Doda West and Bhaderwah in Doda district; and Ramban and Banihal in Ramban district.
In 2014, the Doda region had six Assembly seats—two each in Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban districts. The BJP had won four (Kishtwar, Bhaderwah, Doda and Ramban) and Congress two (Banihal and Inderwal) while NC and PDP had drawn a blank.
Sixty four candidates are in fray for eight seats including 27 in Doda district, 22 in Kishtwar district and 15 in Ramban district.
Notable candidates in Kishtwar Assembly seat are Sajjad Kitchloo (NC), Shagun Parihar (BJP) and Firdous Tak (PDP).
At Paddar-Nagseni, however, a direct contest is on cards between Sunil Sharma and NC’s Pooja Thakur, the sitting chairperson of District Development Council (DDC) Kishtwar though the PDP has also fielded Sandesh Kumar. Rakesh Goswami, a BJP rebel is also in the fray.
Three-time MLA and former Minister Ghulam Mohammad Saroori is contesting the election as an Independent candidate from Inderwal seat after being denied the mandate by Azad’s DPAP, a party which he joined after resigning from the Congress along with Azad.
He is facing Sheikh Zafarullah of Congress, Tariq Hussain Keen (BJP), Nasir Ahmed Sheikh (PDP) and National Conference rebel Pyare Lal Sharma.
In Bhaderwah seat of Doda district, 2014 BJP MLA Daleep Singh Parihar (BJP), Nadeem Sharief (Congress) son of former Power Minister Mohammad Sharief Niaz, Sheikh Mehboob Iqbal (NC), Vikram Rathore of Jammu Kashmir Apni Party and Meenakshi Bhagat of BSP are also among the prominent contestants in the fray. Aslam Goni of DPAP had opted out of the contest.
BJP’s 2014 MLA and former Minister Shakti Raj Parihar is facing Pardeep Kumar (Congress), Tanveer Hussain (PDP) and Abdul Ghani (DPAP) among others in the multi-cornered contest from newly created seat of Doda West.
Doda Assembly segment also is facing multi-cornered contest with two former Ministers Khalid Najib Suhrawardhy (NC) and Abdul Mujeed Wani (DPAP) in the fray along with Gajay Singh Rana (BJP), Riaz Ahmed (Congress) and the PDP.
In Ramban main contest is expected to be among Rakesh Singh Thakur (BJP), Arjun Singh Raju (NC) and Suraj Singh Parihar, a BJP rebel contesting the election as an Independent candidate though many other contestants are in the race.
Banihal constituency in Ramban district is also expected to witness four-cornered contest among Vikar Rasool Wani, a two-time MLA of Congress, Sajjad Shaheen (National Conference), Mohammad Saleem Bhat (BJP) and Imtiyaz Shan (PDP) among others.
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