Jammu News Desk !!! Assembly elections are being held in Jammu and Kashmir after 10 years. Voting for the first phase has started. Security arrangements are tight for voting. Voting is going on for 24 seats for the first phase. A huge crowd of people is being seen at the polling booth since morning for voting. The fate of many big names on 24 seats will be captured in EVM today. Let us tell you that assembly elections are being held for the first time in Jammu and Kashmir after the removal of Article 370. There is a lot of enthusiasm among the voters as well as political parties regarding the elections. In the seats where voting is to be held for the first phase, the candidates of the Congress-NC alliance, PDP and many other parties are making the elections interesting.
Cases of Kashmiri Hindus’ names not being in the voter list are coming to the fore again at special polling stations in Jammu. Around 40 cases have come up at Udaya Wala center since morning, but the polling station officials also dealt with the cases with full cooperation. Supplementary voter slips are being issued after verification through EPIC number. Sharda Raina had reached to cast her vote in the morning, but her name was not in the voter list. After going through the 1-hour process, she now has a chance to cast her vote. Pulwama SSP PD Nitya said that voting is going on in Pulwama district and there are two assembly constituencies in the district. There are 245 polling stations here. We expect good polling. Tight security arrangements have been made.
Voting is going on in many villages of Kulgam district. Long queues of voters were seen outside the polling stations even before the scheduled time of voting. These include first-time voters as well. They say that nothing has been achieved by boycotting. After casting his vote, Jammu and Kashmir National Conference candidate from Doda assembly constituency Khalid Najeeb Suharwardy said that voting is going on smoothly. Good trend. We hope that the National Conference will win. He said that I appeal to the people to come out and vote. This is not a general election, it has come after 10 years. We want statehood and special state status here. We will fight for it and this is the first step in that direction.
A woman voter shows her inked fingers after casting her vote at a polling booth in Kishtwar assembly constituency for the first phase of assembly elections. BJP has fielded Shagun Parihar, NC has fielded Sajjad Ahmed Kichloo and PDP has fielded Firdous Ahmed Tak from Kishtwar assembly constituency. BJP leader Altaf Thakur said that people are very excited and are standing in long queues since 6 am to cast their votes. Jammu and Kashmir has changed. People want to raise their voice through democracy. He said that Kashmir has now rejected terrorism, separatism, bombs, grenades and bullets and has chosen the ballot paper and wants to put forth its point through the ballot paper. Altaf Thakur said that after 2019, people are proud of Indian democracy and today people are coming out to exercise their democratic rights. It seems that PM Modi’s new Jammu and Kashmir slogan has now become successful.
