The southern Anantnag district will go to polls in the third phase of ongoing LokSabha elections amid heightened security on Tuesday.
The AnantnagLokSabha seat, which is going to polls inthree-phases in view of “security concerns”, comprises four districts includingAnantnag, Kulgam, Pulwama and Shopian.
In the first phase of the scheduled three-phased polling, atleast six assembly segments in the Anantnag district will go to the polls,including Anantnag, Bijbehara, Shangus, Kokernag, Dooru, and Pahalgam.
While the Kulgam district will vote in the fourth phase ofgeneral elections on April 29, the twin districts of Pulwama and Shopian willgo to polls in the fifth phase on May 6.
At least 18 candidates are in fray in the southernparliamentary constituency, including Peoples Democratic Party presidentMehbooba Mufti, who is facing an uphill task of retaining her winning streakfrom here. Mehbooba is locked in a direct contest with senior Congress leaderand J&K chief of the party Ghulam Ahmad Mir, judge-turned-politicianHassnainMasoodi of the National Conference and SofiYousuf of theBharatiyaJanata Party.
The contestants also include a Supreme Court lawyer from NewDelhi, Shams Khawaja, and an independent candidate RidwanaSanam, daughter ofincumbent senior NC leader and former MLA Pahalgam, Abdul KabirPathan. Out ofthe total electorate of 14 lakh across the southern LokSabha constituency,523566 are eligible to cast their votesin the first leg in Anantnag district on Tuesday, officials said.
714 polling stations have been set up at 419 pollinglocations in the district, they said. For migrant voters of the district,separate polling stations have been set up—21 in Jammu, one in Udhampur andfour in New Delhi. Stringent security measures have been put in place for thepolling, according to officials, as additional security personnel have beendeployed across the Anantnag district to ensure peaceful and smooth conduct ofelections, a security official said.