2014 Jammu Kashmir Assembly Election

 

The Election Commission of India has announced on Saturday Oct 25,2014 5-Phase Polling for the 87-seat Jammu Kashmir Assembly

 
 
Poll Schedule


The states of Jammu Kashmir and Jharkhand  will vote in five phases between November 25 and December 20. The counting of votes will take place on December 23 in both the states.
Phase 1 -Nov 25,2014
Phase 2 -Dec 02,2014
Phase 3 -Dec 09,2014
Phase 4 -Dec 14,2014
Phase 5 -Dec 20,2014
Counting of Votes -Dec 23,2014
The counting of votes will take place on December 23 to enable the new governments in the two States to be sworn in before January 3,2015 in Jharkhand and January 19,2015 in Jammu and Kashmir




Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Constituencies going to polls in Phase-I on November 25:
ASSEMBLY CONSTITUENCY NO. - ASSEMBLY CONSTITUENCY NAME
9 - GUREZ
10 - BANDIPORA
11 - SONAWARI
16 - KANGAN
17 - GANDERBAL
47 - NOBRA
48 - LEH
49 - KARGIL
50 - ZANSKAR
51 - KISHTWAR
52 - INDERWAL
53 - DODA
54 - BHADERWAH
55 - RAMBAN (SC)
56 - BANIHAL
Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Constituencies going to polls in Phase-II on December 2:
ASSEMBLY CONSTITUENCY NO. - ASSEMBLY CONSTITUENCY NAME
57 - GULABGARH
58 - REASI
59 - GOOL ARNAS
60 - UDHAMPUR
61 - CHENANI (SC)
62 - RAMNAGAR
85 - SURANKOTE
86 - MENDHAR
87 - POONCH HAVELI
1 - KARNAH
2 - KUPWARA
3 - LOLAB
4 - HANDWARA
5 - LANGATE
37 - NOORABAD
38 - KULGAM
39 - HOME-SHALIBUGH
41 - DEVSAR
Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Constituencies going to polls in Phase-III on December 9:
ASSEMBLY CONSTITUENCY NO. - ASSEMBLY CONSTITUENCY NAME
6 - URI
7 - RAFIABAD
8 - SOPORE
12 - SANGRAMA
13 - BARAMULLA
14 - GULMARG
15 - PATTAN
26 - CHADOORA
27 - BADGAM
28 - BEERWAH
29 - KHANSAHIB
30 - CHRAR-I- SHARIEF
31 - TRAL
32 - PAMPORE
33 - PULWAMA
34 - RAJPORA
Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Constituencies going to polls in Phase-IV on December 14:
ASSEMBLY CONSTITUENCY NO. - ASSEMBLY CONSTITUENCY NAME
18 - HAZRATBAL
19 - ZADIBAL
20 - IDGAH
21 - KHANYAR
22 - HABBAKADAL
23 - AMIRAKADAL
24 - SONAWAR
25 - BATAMALOO
40 - ANANTNAG
42 - DORU
43 - KOKERNAG
44 - SHANGUS
45 - BIJBEHARA
46 - PAHALGAM
35 - WACHI
36 - SHOPIAN
68 - SAMBA (SC)
69 - VIJAYPUR
Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Constituencies going to polls in Phase-V on December 20:
ASSEMBLY CONSTITUENCY NO. - ASSEMBLY CONSTITUENCY NAME
63 - BANI
64 - BASOHLI
65 - KATHUA
66 - BILLAWAR
67 - HIRANAGAR (SC)
70 - NAGROTA
71 - GANDHINAGAR
72 - JAMMU EAST
73 - JAMMU WEST
74 - BISHNAH
75 - RS PURA (SC)
76 - SUEHETGARH
77 - MARH
78 - RAIPUR DOMANA (SC)
79 - AKHNOOR
80 - CHHAMB (SC)
81 - NOWSHARA
82 - DARHAL
83 - RAJOURI
84 - KALAKOTE


 Along with these two states, three Assembly seats in Delhi - Mehrauli, Tughlaqabad and Krishna Nagar will also vote on November 25,2014.The three seats fell vacant after three BJP MLAs got elected to the Lok Sabha in Parliamentary elections.

Jammu and Kashmir is a militancy-hit state, with an extremely harsh winter.

Unlike all other states in India, J&K goes to Assembly polls once in six years instead of five years. The last Assembly election was held in 2008. The National Conference (NC) and Congress coalition government has been in power in the state since then

The main opposition PDP led by former chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed is trying to come back to power this election.

Buoyed by the spectacular victory in the Lok Sabha and recent Assembly elections in Haryana and Maharashtra, Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP is also trying to emerge as the single largest party in J&K.

Political Parties in the fray in Jammu and Kashmir:


National Conference
People's Democratic Party
Congress
Bharatiya Janata Party
Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party

The Congress on Wednesday Oct 29,2014 fielded four ministers and a former militant commander in the first list of 15 candidates for the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections

Among the four ministers in the NC-Congress coalition government who have been named as party candidates are -

• Rigzin Jora from Leh
• Viqar Rasool from Banihal
• Abdul Majeed Wani from Doda and 
• G.M. Saroori from Inderwal. 

Bandipora candidate Usman Majeed is a former militant commander, while Sonawari nominee Imtiyaz Paray is the son of former militant Kukka Paray. 

Zanskar candidate Ghulam Raza is a Shia leader, while Kargil nominee Ashghar Karbalai is a former chief of the regional autonomous council. 

The Congress had decided to fight the polls alone in July after party workers refused to came out strongly against its coalition partner National Conference. 

The National Conference(NC), led by Omar, is going all out with its ‘Mission Bounce Back’, with the Chief Minister pivoting the strategy on direct interaction with citizens at an unprecedented level. 

The first term Chief Minister released his gmail ID to the public and invited people to visit him at his office and residence in Srinagar with feedback, grievances and suggestions. 

This one-on-one interaction with people led to Omar introducing several new measures and revoking other unpopular ones. 

Among the biggest initiatives was the withdrawal of a four-year-old ban on sending texts from pre-paid mobile connections. 

Riding high on the poll sops, the party has named 61 of its candidates for the state’s 87 Assembly seats.

The National Conference (NC) on Friday Oct 31,2014 announced that party president and J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah will contest from Sonawar and Beerwah constituencies instead of the family bastion Ganderbal in the upcoming Assembly elections

Omar Abdullah contested his first election from Ganderbal in 2002 and was defeated by People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Qazi Muhammad Afzal. In the 2008 Assembly polls he emerged victorious against the same opponent by a huge margin. 

Omar Abdullah’s grandfather Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah was elected as MLA from Ganderbal in 1977, the year in which he became chief minister for the first time. 

Farooq Abdullah had contested the elections from Ganderbal in 1983, 1987 and 1996

BJP releases list of 45 candidates

The Central Election Committee of the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) on Sunday Nov 02,2014 evening released a list of 45 candidates for upcoming Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections

 The meeting was attended by PM Narendra Modi, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and all the members of the Central Election Committee of the BJP

Karnah: Eshfaq-ur Rehman Poswal
Rafiabad: Desh Kumar Nehru
Kangan: Nazir Ahmad Raina
Hazratbal: Hakim Masood
Khanyar: Ashok Bhat
Habbakadal: Moti Kaul
Amirakadal: Hina Bhat
Noorabad: Mustaq Noorabadi
Homeshalibugh: Ghulam Nabi Dar
Devsar: Fayaz Ahmad Bhat
Pahalgam: Sofi Yousuf
Nobra: Tenjing Galik
Leh: Chering Dorge
Kishtwar: Sunil Sharma
Inderwal: Tariq Keen
Doda: Shakti Parihar
Bhaderwah: Dileep Parihar
Ramban(SC): Neelam Langeh
Banihal: Shaukat Deng
Gulabgarh: Pradeep Singh
Reasi: ShriAjay Nanda
Gool Arnas: Kuldeep Dubey
Udhampur: Pawan Khajuria
Chanani(SC): Dinanath Bhagat
Ramnagar: RS Pathania
Bani: Jeevan
Basohli: Lal Singh
Kathua: Rajiv Jasrotia
Hiranagar(SC): Kuldeep Kumar
Vijaypur: Shri Chandra Prakash
Jammu East: Rajesh Gupta
Jammu West: Sat Sharma
Bishnah: Shri Ashwani
RS Pura(SC): Dr Gagan Bhagat
Suchetgarh: Shyam Chowdary
Marh: Sukhnandan Chowdary
Raipur Domana(SC): Bali Bhagat
Akhnoor: Rajiv Sharma
Chhamb(SC): Dr Krishan Lal
Nowshera: Ravinder Raina
Rajauri: Talib Hussain
Kalakote: Abdul Ghani Kohli
Surankote: Taj Md Khan
Mendhar: Julfikar Ali Pathan
Poonch Haveli: Pradeep Sharma

BJP eyes 'Mission 44' in J&K

The Bharatiya Janata Party is all set for its ‘Mission 44’ in Jammu and Kashmir. It has not only made ‘development’ and ‘good governance’ as the main planks for the upcoming Assembly elections, but has also got the top Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) honchos to do the spade work to gain ground in the Kashmir Valley.

The party appears confident that it will sweep the Jammu and Ladakh regions in the five-phased Assembly polls slated between November 25 and December 20. In the case of the Valley, where the party has usually not fared well, the BJP hopes things will sway in its favour.

Top RSS functionaries like Ram Madhav and Indresh Kumar have been sent there to reach out to the electorate with the messages of ‘development’ and ‘good governance’

Sangh leader Indresh Kumar - who is also the margdarshak of Muslim Rashtriya Manch, under the RSS umbrella - is working among the youths to win support for the BJP. He had earlier worked with the minority community in the Jammu region. 

According to sources, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar will provide a helping hand as he had served as the party’s election in-charge in Jammu and Kashmir, and is well versed about political equations in the state. 

While Jammu accounts for 37 Assembly constituencies, Ladakh has four seats. In the last Lok Sabha elections, the BJP registered a lead in 24 of the 37 Assembly segments in Jammu; and one out of the four Assembly segments in Ladakh. 

Riding on the Modi wave, the BJP bagged three out of six seats - Jammu, Udhampur and Leh - in the Lok Sabha elections

Avinash Rai Khanna, who is currently incharge of the party in the state, said: “Corruption and unemployment are the bigger issues in the state. People want a corruption-free government. BJP will come out as a winner on the plank of good governance under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi.” 

He also said the party has given representation to all sections of the society, including Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs and others while selecting candidates. 

The BJP has decided on its campaign slogan, “Chalo chalein Modiji ke Saath. Chalein Bhajpa ke Saath. Chalo Badlein Jammu and Kashmir ke Haalat”.