Srinagar May 24: The Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha constituency which goes to polls today is likely to witness a triangular contest between National Conference, PDP and Apni Party.
Although there are 20 candidates in the election fray, the main contest seems to be between NC’s Mian Altaf, PDP’s Mehbooba Mufti and Apni Party’s Zaffar Manhas.
There are over 18.36 lakh voters of Anantnag- Rajouri Lok Sabha seat in the last phase of Lok Sabha elections for the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir to be held on May 25.
The Parliamentary constituency spans over 5 districts of Kulgam, Anantnag, Poonch, District Shopian (36- Zainanpora) and Rajouri of the PC.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has set up 2,338 polling stations across the Anantnag- Rajouri Parliamentary Constituency. Four election staff, including Presiding Officer will be stationed in every polling station. In total, more than 9,000 polling staff, including reserve will be deployed on duty. There are 19 Border Polling Stations in the districts of Rajouri and Poonch.
The polling will be held from 7.00 am to 6.00 pm and before that there shall be a mock poll in presence of polling agents. Voting will continue even after 6.00 pm, if the voters queue is still there in the Polling Station premises.
Officials said there will be 17 polling booths managed by women (called as pink polling stations), 15 polling booths manned by specially abled persons and 8 Polling Booths managed by youths. Also in order to spread message about the environment, there will be 15 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 and to motivate them to come forward and exercise their right to vote.
In order to facilitate the voters and also to increase voter turnout ratios, all voters have been provided with voter information slips with information like Polling Station name, date & time of poll, serial number of voter in the list, his full name, QR code but not the photograph of the voter. Hence, Voter Information Slips will not be allowed as proof of the identity of voters. Proof of identity will be any documents out of 12 documents, including EPIC. The BLO concerned has distributed 100% voter information slips.
The citizens can also view details of the Polling Station, Parliamentary Constituency, and get the contact details of the Booth Level Officer, Electoral Registration Officer among other services, through Voter Helpline App (VHA). This mobile app is available on the Google Play store and Apple App Store.
The documents which can be used for voter’s identification in addition to Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC), included Aadhaar Card, MGNREGA Job Card, Passbooks with photograph issued by Bank/Post Office, Health Insurance Smart Card issued under the scheme of the Ministry of Labour, Driving License, (vi) PAN Card, Smart Card issued by RGI under NPR, Indian Passport, Pension document with photograph, Service Identity Cards with photograph issued to employees by Central/State Govt./PSUs/Public Limited Companies, Official identity cards issued to MPs/MLAs/MLCs, Unique Disability ID (UDID) Card, issued by M/o Social Justice & Empowerment, Government of India.
There will be two hourly reporting of voting percentage from 9.00 am to the end of poll. The concerned ARO and RO will share the data with media accordingly. The updated figures shall also be placed in voter turnout app. These figures are always subject to, normally upward correction as the final confirmed figures are collected after receiving the statutory forms from all Polling Stations. So till these final figures are known, figures on Voter Turnout App are to be always tentative.
All the polling stations in Anantnag- Rajouri will have CCTV type cameras for live webcasting to control rooms established at District and CEO office. The cameras will be positioned in such a way so that they don’t violate the secrecy of vote. There are few polling stations which falls in communication shadow areas. Suitable alternate arrangements in the communication shadow areas by providing Satellite Phones, Wireless sets, and Special Runners etc have been put in place. Candidates/ Political parties need to obtain prior permission for campaigning purposes, they seek online permission on Suvidha app and Portal. Till date, election officers have accorded permission for 1920 applications and rejected 303.