• All arrangements finalized for 5th Phase: CEO Pole
• 2,103 Polling stations set to go to polls across 4 dists
• 74 Special Polling Booths setup
Srinagar, May 17: Over 1,73,7000 voters are enrolled for 5th phase for Baramulla Parliamentary Constituency and will decide the fate of 22 candidates on May 20. All arrangements have been finalized for LokSabhaelections , officials on Friday said.
Chief Electoral Officer, Jammu and Kashmir P.K Pole told Rising Kashmir that all arrangements regarding the 5th Phase of LS Polls in Baramulla PC have been finalized.
“In the 5th phase there are 2,103 Polling stations in 4 districts including Baramulla, Kupwara, Bandipora and Budgam. Four election staff, including the Presiding Officer will be stationed in every polling station. Over 8,000 Polling staff, including reserve will be deployed on duty,” he said.
CEO Pole said that there are 28 Border Polling Stations in the Districts of Kupwara and Baramulla.
He said 17,37,865lacs of voters are enrolled in phase 5th, which includes 8,75,831 male and 8,62,000 female voters and 34 third gender voters. They will go to vote on 20th May.
CEO Pole said that there are around 17,128 persons with disability and 527 persons above the age of 100 years.
“We encourage the voters to participate in the maximum number in the biggest festival of the largest democracy of the world.”
Another official said that there will be 18 polling booths managed by women (also called as pink polling stations), 17 booths manned by specially abled persons and 18 by youths.
“In order to spread the message about the environment, there will be 21 green polling stations. The purpose behind these special polling stations is to spread awareness among certain sections of society viz. women, specially abled, first time young voters etc and to motivate them to come forward and exercise their right to vote,” he added.
The Baramulla parliamentary constituency, which goes to the polls on May 20, comprises 18 assembly constituencies.
This time 22 candidates are in the fray, including former chief minister and National Conference (NC) Vice President Omar Abdullah, former minister and Peoples Conference (PC) Chairman SajjadGani Lone, former RajyaSabha member and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader Mir Fayaz, former Member of Legislative Assembly Engineer Rasheed.
The others include Nationalist Peoples Front candidate and separatist leader Shabir Ahmad Shah’s brother, Muneer Ahmad Khan, and two independent female candidates, SuraiyaNissar and Shafeeqa Begum.
In the 2019 parliamentary polls, NC’s Muhammad Akbar Lone won the seat, securing 133,426 votes. People Conference’s Raja Aijaz Ali received 103,193 votes, while Engineer Rashid, who ran as an independent candidate, garnered 102,168 votes. PDP’s Abdul QayyumWani obtained 53,530 votes, and Haji Farooq Ahmad Mir of Congress received 34,532 votes.
