Jammu, September 24: The border districts of Rajouri and Poonch, which have been hit by several deadly terror attacks in the past three years, and Jammu’s adjoining Raishi district will go to polls for the second phase of assembly elections on Wednesday.
Officials said adequate security measures have been put in place in all 11 assembly areas in the three hill districts to ensure a safe atmosphere for voters to exercise their franchise.
The second phase, which also covers three districts of central Kashmir: Srinagar, Ganderbal and Budgam, will decide the fate of 239 candidates in 26 assembly divisions, including 79 in Jammu’s Pir Panjal district candidate.
Among the most prominent names in the race between Rajouri, Poonch and Raisi are BJP’s JK unit chief Ravinder Raina, who is seeking re-election from Nushera constituency, along with five former Ministers, including two who fought as independents and 10 former MPs.
On June 9, Raisi district witnessed a brutal terrorist attack on a bus transporting pilgrims from the Shiv Khori temple in Teryath village, resulting in the death of nine people, including seven pilgrims, while Rajouri and Poonch districts There have been more than a dozen major terrorist attacks since then. In October 2021, more than 35 security personnel and 8 civilians were killed.
Officials said that against the backdrop of terror incidents in the region, which was considered free of terrorism more than a decade ago, authorities have made all necessary arrangements to ensure that voting is not disrupted.
They said since many areas lie along the Line of Control (LoC), a strategy has been formulated to deal with any scenario, especially cross-border shelling, although this is less likely due to the ongoing ceasefire.
Since India and Pakistan renewed their agreement on February 25, 2021, ceasefire violations between the two countries have been very rare.
The top 34 candidates are spread across five districts of Rajouri district: Kalakote-Sunderbani, Nowshera, Rajouri, Budhar Budhal and Tannamandi.
This is followed by three seats in Poonch – Surankote (ST), Poonch-Haveli and Mendhar (ST), and 20 seats in Gulabgarh (ST), Reasi and Shri Mata Vaishno Devi districts in Reasi district.
Officials said a comprehensive network of 745 polling stations has been set up in Rajouri district, which has a maximum of 4,92,008 voters, including 2,35,786 women voters and seven transgender voters.
In Rajouri district, 11 candidates are contesting from Kalakote-Sunderbani; 5 from Nowshera, 8 from Rajouri (ST), 4 in Budhal (ST) and 6 in Tannamandi (ST).
483 polling stations have been set up in Poonch district with a total of 3,52,330 voters, including 1,71,746 women, with 8 candidates each from Surankote (ST) and Poonch Haveli contesting, while Mendhar has 9 candidates Participate in the campaign (English stone).
In Reasi district, seven candidates each are contesting for Reasi and Shri Mata Vaishno Devi seats, while six candidates are contesting for Gulabgarh (ST) seat.
Officials said that there are a total of 2,37,205 registered voters in the district, including 1,12,843 women and 3 transgender people, and 436 polling stations have been set up in the district.
All three districts are high turnout areas, with Gulabgarh registering 82.09%, Gool-Arnas 82.58%, Reasi 80.32%, and Dahal Darhal 82.45%, Nowshera 79.68%, Kalakote 76.66%, Rajouri 76.09%, Mendhar 80.09% In the 2014 Assembly elections, Surankote was 76.49%, Poonch-Haveli is 76.25%.
The People’s Democratic Party, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress won three seats each in the 2014 assembly elections, while the NC secured only one seat.
The number of assembly areas has been increased to 11 this time, including Shri Mata Vaishno Devi seat, and Gool-Arnas will be renamed Gulabgarh after the delimitation exercise in 2022.
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