Security further up in Rajouri, Poonch districts
5405 VVPATs to be used, 18 PSs to be managed by women
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, May 8: As many as 18.36 lakh voters will decide the fate of 20 candidates in fray for Anantnag-Poonch-Rajouri (APR) Parliamentary constituency which will go to polls in sixth phase of voting on May 25 amidst heightened security arrangements.
The Election Commission has set up 2338 Polling Stations, majority of which 2116, fall in rural areas, officials told the Excelsior.
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“Though no security-related incident has taken place concerning electoral process including candidates, election rallies, polling stations etc, the security arrangements are being enhanced to ensure there are no disruptions in the elections,” they said.
Two terror attacks took place at Shahdara Sharief in Rajouri and Surankote in Poonch, which are part of Anantnag seat recently leading to death of a civilian (brother of an Army soldier) and an IAF Warrior besides injuries to five soldiers.
Troops have already strengthened surveillance on the Line of Control (LoC) in Rajouri and Poonch districts to ensure that there is no infiltration by the militants from Pakistan to disrupt the elections. Simultaneously, the areas in hinterland of the two districts are being secured to thwart the terror plots, the officials said.
“A security plan is already in place for protection of all candidates, their election rallies, leaders connected with the campaigning, Polling Stations, polling parties and all stakeholders,” they added and said there is nothing to worry by the candidates as fool-proof security arrangements are in place for the segment.
For election to Anantnag Lok Sabha seat, which was deferred from May 7 (in third phase) to May 25 (in sixth phase), the Election Commission will use 5405 VVPATs (Voter Verified Paper Audit Trails), 6888 Ballot Units and 4996 Control Units.
Significantly, out of 2338 Polling Stations in Anantnag-Poonch-Rajouri Parliamentary constituency, 2216 are in rural areas which means majority of the segments fall in rural belt. It has only 222 Polling Stations in Urban areas.
Eighteen each Polling Stations in the seat will be managed entirely by women and People with Disabilities (PwD) while webcasting will be done from 1775 stations.
There are 90 Model Polling Stations in Anantnag seat.
Out of total of 18,36,576 electorates in Anantnag-Rajouri segment, 9,33,647 are male, 9,02,902 are females and 27 are third genders.
There are 540 centurion voters in the seat and one overseas voter. As many as 86394 are first-time voters while 4,55,289 electorates are in the age group of 20-29. Voters with 85 years plus age are 14848 while PwD electorates are 17967. There are 12961 service voters in the constituency.
The Parliamentary seat has 960 Elector Gender Ratio and 0.60 Elector Population Ratio.
A total of 20 candidates are in fray for Anantnag-Poonch-Rajouri seat which comprised South Kashmir in the Valley and twin border districts of Rajouri and Poonch in Jammu division.
People’s Democratic Party (PDP) president and former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, former Minister Mian Altaf (National Conference), Zaffar Manhas (Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party) and Advocate Maqbool Parray (DPAP) are prominent among the candidates in the race.
The constituency is spread over 9557 square kilometres area.
This is the first Lok Sabha election in which Anantnag has been linked with Rajouri and Poonch and the constituency has been divided between Jammu and Kashmir divisions.
Earlier, there were three Lok Sabha seats in the Valley including Srinagar, Baramulla and Anantnag and two in Jammu division including Jammu and Udhampur. Boundaries of all five constituencies of the Union Territory have been changed.
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