Campaigning ends in Srinagar LS seat
Srinagar: Campaigning for the Srinagar Parliamentary constituency ended Saturday evening as the segment goes to polls on Monday (May 13) in the fourth phase of the 18th Lok Sabha elections.
The campaigning ended today as the authorities declared ‘Dry Day’ in Srinagar from May 11, 6 pm to May 13, 6 pm directing all liquor shops, bars, hotels and clubs not to serve alcohol during this period.
Dr Bilal Mohi-Ud-Din Bhat, Returning Officer (RO) for Srinagar PC has declared a “Dry Day” in Srinagar from 6:00 pm on May 11, 2024, till 6:00 pm on May 13, 2024, in the wake of the scheduled Polling in the Constituency.
This Lok Sabha seat is witnessing a triangular contest between National Conference (NC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP and Apni Party (AP) candidates.
NC has fielded Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi while PDP has chosen a young face, Waheed-ur-Rehman Parra and Apni Party has fielded Muhammad Ashraf Wani as the party’s candidate from Srinagar Parliamentary Constituency.
All three parties and candidates have many areas as their strongholds, thereby paving the way for a tight contest on May 13.
During the ongoing elections, Srinagar’s downtown areas witnessed political rallies for the first time in the last several decades as the people were seen as enthusiastic and keen during the political activities in these areas.
Notably, the Apni Party has also got the support of former legislator Ishfaq Jabbar led party in Ganderbal, which is expected to give a further push to the party candidate in this election.
All the three contenders from these three parties have almost a clean slate. While Parra has the advantage of being one among hundreds jailed post-August 2019, Ruhullah banks upon his unwavering stance over the revocation of Article 370, even at times being at loggerheads with his own party.
M Ashraf Mir has a reputation as he defeated Omar Abdullah in assembly elections previously.
Meanwhile, a total of 17,47,810 voters are going to decide the fate of 24 candidates by casting their ballots in around 2135 polling stations across five districts of Kashmir. The polling will take place in 18 assembly segments on Monday from morning 07:00 AM to evening 06:00 PM in Srinagar, Pulwama, Budgam, Ganderbal and Shopian.
More than two lakh electorates are first-time voters. Of a total of 17.47 lakh voters, 8,75,938 are male and 8,71,808 are female electorates and 64 third gender voters. As per the data, there are around 11,682 persons with disability and 705 persons above the age of 100 years
Around 20 polling booths across the constituency will be managed by the women, known as pink polling stations while 18 others will be managed by specially-abled persons.
The voters will have their valid identity proof like Aadhar Card, MGNREGA Job Card, Passbook with photograph issued by Bank or Post Office, driving license or other cards along.
As per the details, more than 600 journalists and cameramen of print, electronic and social media platforms have been provided with Passes to cover the polling.
To monitor various election related activities and also check MCC compliance, a Command and Control Room has been established at CEO’s office, Jammu with similar mini control rooms at every DEO offices which are functioning 24 x 7. Apart from looking for MCC violations, the Control room gets live feed from more than 100% of Polling Stations and GPS vehicle tracking of all vehicles being used for poll parties.
The Communication also adds that as per the latest instructions of the Election Commission of India Special Polling Stations have been established for Migrant Voters of the Kashmir Division. A total of 26 Special Polling Stations have been established with 21 polling stations in Jammu, 4 in Delhi and 1 in Udhampur District respectively. Special Polling Station-wise extract voter list will be with BLOs.
The communication also quotes, “We encourage the voters to participate in the maximum number in the biggest festival of the largest democracy of the world.”
