Phase-IV polling today Srinagar: 18 seats with a total of 182 candidates in the fray, including Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and PDP patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed are going for voting on Sunday under phase-IV. About 14.73 lakh electorates including 7.67 lakh male and 7.06 lakh females will decide fate of 182 candidates in 18 Assembly constituencies including high profile nominees like Chief Minister Omar Abdullah (Sonawar-Srinagar) and PDP patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed (Anantnag) besides sitting Ministers, the Speaker, former Ministers, legislators and other influential candidates on December 14. Stakes were very high for two major political rivals-NC and PDP in the fourth phase as out of 18 seats, NC holds 9 (all 8 in Srinagar district and one in Samba) while PDP holds 6 (4 in Anantnag and 2 in Shopian). Congress had two seats in Anantnag district and JKNPP one. Though BJP holds no seats in the fourth phase constituencies, it has high hopes in two seats of Samba district. Polling has been completed in 49 Assembly seats including 15 in Jammu region, all four in Ladakh region and 30 in the Kashmir Valley in first three phases on November 25, December 2 and December 9. After fourth phase of polling on December 14, for which the campaigning will end at 6 pm tomorrow, polling will be completed in all 46 seats of Kashmir and 17 in Jammu region, leaving 20 seats of Jammu, which would go to polls in fifth phase on December 20. Official sources said that 18 seats going to polls in the fourth phase included Samba and Vijaypur in Samba district, Hazratbal, Zadibal, Idgah, Khanyar, Habbakadal, Amirakadal, Sonawar and Batamaloo (eight seats of Srinagar district), Dooru, Kokernag, Shangus, Bijbehara, Anantnag and Pahalgam (six seats of Anantnag district), Wachi and Shopian in Shopian district. Apart from two prominent political rivals–Omar Abdullah and Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, other bigwigs, whose political fortunes will be decided in the fourth phase included Legislative Assembly Speaker Mubarak Gul (Idgah), Rural Development Minister and NC general secretary Ali Mohammad Sagar (Khanyar), two Congress Ministers GA Mir (Dooru) and Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed (Kokernag), PDP’s three times MLA and former Minister Abdul Rehman Veeri (Bijbehara), BJP’s prominent faces in Kashmir Dr Heena Bhat (Amirakadal) and Moti Koul (Habbakadal), sitting NC MLA and former Minister Surjit Singh Slathia (Vijaypur), another former Minister and Congress leader Manjit Singh and BJP’s Chander Prakash Ganga (also Vijaypur) and sitting NPP two times MLA from Samba Yash Paul Kundal. Sonawar is the second seat from where Omar is contesting. His fortune in Beerwah constituency of Budgam district was sealed in third phase of polling on December 9. Wachi is another prestigious segment in Shopian district as it was represented in the outgoing Assembly by PDP president Mehbooba Mufti, who had resigned from the seat after being elected to the Lok Sabha in May this year. PDP has fielded Aijaz Ahmad Mir from Wachi. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah, AICC (I) president Sonia Gandhi, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, PDP leaders Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and Mehbooba Mufti, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad and BJP star campaigners including Union Minister Mukhtaar Abbas Naqvi, Shahnawaz Hussain, Hema Malini, Vinod Khanna and Navjot Singh Sidhu among others campaigned for their parties in fourth phase of polling. Stakes are high for NC and PDP in the fourth phase as ruling NC holds all eight Assembly seats of Srinagar district, the summer capital of the State while PDP holds both seats of Shopian districts including Shopian and Wachi and four out of six seats in Anantnag district including Anantnag (Mufti Mohammad Sayeed), Pahalgam (Rafi Ahmad Mir), Bijbehara (Abdul Rehman Veeri) and Shangus (Peer Mansoor Shah). Two other seats of Anantnag are held by the Congress which included Dooru (GA Mir) and Kokernag (Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed), both Ministers. Vijaypur Assembly constituency is among the prestigious seat for ruling NC as former Minister and Surjit Singh Slathia is seeking second term from here in multi cornered contest with Chander Prakash Ganga (BJP), Manjit Singh (Congress) and Harmesh Singh Slathia (PDP) among others. Slathia had won the seat in 1996 but lost to Manjit Singh in 2002 but regained it in 2008. NPP MLA Yash Paul Kundal is seeking third term from Samba (Reserve) seat having won it for two consecutive terms in 2002 and 2008. He is being opposed by Dr Devinder Manyal (BJP), Subash Bhagat (Congress), Som Nath (BSP) and Sunny Sangral (PDP) among others. Som Nath had won the seat for BSP in 1996 but lost the two subsequent elections.
Posted on: Sat, 13 Dec 2014 20:14:24 +0000
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