Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Elections 2024: First Phase of Polling for 24 Seats Underway Amid Tight Security
In the 2024 Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections, more than 2.3 million voters will decide the fate of 219 candidates, including 90 independents, vying for 24 seats.
Image Source: Business Today
For the first time in a decade, voters in Jammu and Kashmir are casting their ballots on Wednesday in the first of a three-phase assembly election for 2024. According to the Election Commission of India (ECI), more than 2.3 million voters will decide the outcome for 219 candidates, including 90 independents, competing for 24 assembly seats—eight in three districts of the Jammu region and 16 in four districts of the Kashmir valley.
The government has deployed multi-layered security, including the Central Armed Paramilitary Forces (CAPF), Jammu and Kashmir Armed Police, and local police. This is the first assembly election since Article 370 was revoked in August 2019. The ECI has stationed 14,000 staff to manage the voting at 3,276 polling booths today. In phase one, around 123,000 young voters aged 18 to 19, along with 28,309 people with disabilities and 15,774 senior citizens over 85, are eligible to vote.
Notable candidates from Kashmir in phase one include PDP’s Iltija Mufti, CPI (M)’s Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami, and Congress’s Ghulam Ahmad Mir. Although the National Conference (NC) and Congress are allies, they are fielding separate candidates in Banihal, Bhaderwah, and Doda. Rebel NC leader Pyare Lal Sharma is running independently in Inderwal, while BJP rebels Rakesh Goswami and Suraj Singh Parihar are contesting in Ramban and Padder-Nagseni. In Jammu, key candidates include former ministers Sajjad Kitchloo (NC), Vikar Rasool Wani (Congress), Sunil Sharma (BJP), and independent Ghulam Mohammad Saroori. There are 302 urban and 2,974 rural polling booths, each staffed by four election officials, including a presiding officer.
Over 35,000 Kashmiri Pandits will participate in the first phase, with the ECI easing paperwork for those who relocated to Jammu and Udhampur in the 1990s to encourage their participation. Jammu and Kashmir has been without an elected government since June 2018, following the collapse of the BJP-PDP alliance, which led to the resignation of former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti. Out of Jammu and Kashmir’s 90 assembly constituencies, 74 are for general candidates, nine are reserved for Scheduled Tribes, and seven for Scheduled Castes.
In Pulwama, Waheed Para, accused in a terror case, faces a stiff challenge from his former party colleague Mohammad Khalil Bandh, now running under the NC banner.
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- Aryan Gulati is a dedicated media student based in Meerut with a wealth of experience in various newspapers and media houses. He has numerous published articles and specializes in political and crime news writing, demonstrating a strong commitment to impactful journalism.
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