Security personnel, poll staff reach booths
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Nov 10: All arrangements are in place for voting in Nagrota Assembly constituency tomorrow with poll duty officials deputed along with Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) at all 150 polling stations and security personnel taking control of sensitive areas.
By-poll will be held tomorrow with 97,893 voters eligible to exercise their right to franchise while 10 candidates are in the fray though the contest is mainly confined among four prominent candidates.
Officials said the election duty staff along with the EVMs has been deputed to all 150 polling stations for by-election to Nagrota seat, falling in Jammu district. Observers deputed by the Election Commission of India (ECI) are already on the job.
Security personnel have been deployed outside all polling stations. They sanitized the polling booths well in advance.
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“At all vulnerable places, paramilitary and police personnel have been deployed in strength,” the officials said, adding that all necessary arrangements have been put in place for smooth polling.
They added that polling staff, static and mobile surveillance teams, and magistrates have been deployed across booths.
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Campaigning concluded on Sunday evening. Leaders from multiple parties camped in the constituency over the past many days.
The seat is witnessing a four-cornered contest among the BJP, National Conference (NC), the Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party-India (JKNPP-I) and a BJP rebel turned Independent.
The bypoll was necessitated following the demise of BJP stalwart Devender Singh Rana on October 31 last year within few days after the election and tasking oath as the MLA.
His 30-year-old daughter, Devyani Rana, riding on public sympathy and goodwill, is contesting on a BJP ticket.
She faces NC’s 37-year-old nominee Shamim Begum, a Post Graduate in Urdu and a sitting District Development Council (DDC) member, JKNPP-I leader and former Minister Harsh Dev Singh and Independent Anil Sharma, a former Sarpanch and the BJP rebel, who jumped into the fray after trying for the party mandate.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh and several senior NC and BJP leaders addressed rallies in support of their respective candidates. LoP Sunil Sharma and BJP president Sat Sharma also canvassed for Devyani Rana.
Devyani Rana, an Economics Graduate from the University of California has promised a “professional and inclusive approach to development”.
Shamim Begum, banking on her grassroots connect and NC cadre support, has projected herself as a candidate of continuity and service delivery at the local level.
Harshdev Singh, who represented Ramnagar for three consecutive terms in 1996, 2002 and 2008, is contesting from Nagrota for the first time.
Anil Sharma, a former Sarpanch and BJP rebel, is contesting as an Independent after failing to secure the party mandate. Another lawyer, Joginder Singh, is in the fray as the AAP candidate. Five more Independents are also contesting.
Nagrota has alternated between the BJP and NC over five elections since 1996. Ajatshatru Singh (NC) won in 1996, followed by BJP’s Jugal Kishore Sharma in 2002 and 2008. Devender Singh Rana won the seat for NC in 2014 and retained it in 2024 as a BJP candidate after switching parties in 2021.
The Congress has not fielded a candidate and did not formally join the NC campaign.
Candidates made final appeals urging voters to turn up in large numbers on polling day.
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