Final phase of voting tomorrow
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Dec 17: Campaigning for remaining 14 Territorial Constituencies out of a total of 140 came to an end here this evening bringing curtains down on nearly month-long rallies and meetings by different political parties and Independent candidates as eighth and final phase of the District Development Council (DDC) elections will be held on December 19.
BJP was the only party which made the election campaign high profile with several Union Ministers, senior leaders and Members of Parliament canvassing for the party candidates while the Congress didn’t rope-in any senior leader except for its Incharge Rajni Patil who too visited Jammu only for couple of days addressing few rallies.
However, Union Cabinet Ministers Smriti Irani and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, Ministers of State including Dr Jitendra Singh, Anurag Thakur, Incharge of DDC Election Campaign, Gen (Retd) VK Singh, BJP national general secretary, Incharge J&K, Tarun Chug, former Union Minister Shahnawaz Hussain, UT president Ravinder Raina, MPs Manoj Tewari, Hans Raj Hans, Dushyant Gautam and Sanjay Bhatia and Irfan Ahmed, national vice president Minority Morcha among others campaigned aggressively in J&K.
Besides, J&K Unit leaders of the BJP also campaigned for the DDC elections.
Thakur, who had been appointed Incharge of the BJP for DDC elections in J&K, campaigned in the entire Union Territory. Dr Jitendra Singh also addressed rallies across the UT. Dr Jitendra Singh, Thakur and Chug camped in Jammu and Kashmir for almost a month. BJP’s national and UT leaders covered majority of the DDC constituencies in Jammu region and many in the Kashmir valley.
Contrary to this, the Congress kept the election campaign a low key affair with only Rajni Patil visiting Jammu for couple of days and addressing few rallies. Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad didn’t visit the UT even for a single day during election campaign including his native Doda district.
Former Chief Minister and National Conference president Dr Farooq Abdullah and party vice president Omar Abdullah didn’t visit Jammu to canvass for the party candidates even though the NC had fielded candidates in majority of 140 seats in Jammu region except those which it had left for PDP and Congress in the initial two phases of the DDC elections.
People’s Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti too didn’t campaign in Jammu region.
Campaigning remained completely peaceful in the region with no untoward incident or any major complaint from the candidates or their supporters reported from any of the 140 DDC constituencies.
Fourteen Territorial Constituencies will go to polls in eighth and last phase of the DDC elections on Saturday in the Jammu region. Counting of all 280 constituencies of Jammu and Kashmir-140 each in Jammu and Kashmir divisions (14 each in 20 districts of the Union Territory)-will be taken up simultaneously on December 22.
Results are expected to come by the evening of December 22 as voting was held through ballot papers and their counting will take more time as compared to the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).
Sources said ballot boxes of the Territorial Constituencies where polling has already been completed have been kept in strong rooms at the district headquarters where counting will take place.
Arrangements for the counting are being finalized by the concerned District Magistrates at the district level.
Voting percentage has been very impressive in all seven phases of the DDC elections held so far in Jammu region. Seventh phase of polling yesterday had recorded highest 71.9 percent turnout in all the phases.
Lowest turnout was 64 percent in first phase in the Jammu region.
According to the official spokesperson, the campaigning has ended for the final phase and the political parties and the Independent candidates should refrain from canvassing, otherwise action as warranted under the rules in vogue can be initiated against them.
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