Jammu:

The Election Commission has set up 24 special polling stations in Jammu, Udhampur and New Delhi to facilitate voting by Kashmiri migrants in the upcoming Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections, a senior official said.

People who were displaced from the Kashmir Valley and are residing in Jammu and Udhampur will not have to fill Form-M, as was done in the Lok Sabha elections, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Jammu and Kashmir, Pandurang K Pole said in a statement issued on Friday.

“Kashmiri migrant voters residing in various relief camps in Jammu, Udhampur, and Delhi, who have opted to cast their votes in person through Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in the election, can do so at 24 polling stations – 19 in Jammu, 1 in Udhampur and 4 in Delhi,” he said.

“Continuing with the historic decision taken by the ECI during the Lok Sabha elections, the earlier requirement for migrant electors in Jammu and Udhampur to fill out Form-M has been removed,” he said.

Electors residing in zones and camps will be mapped to their respective polling stations in Jammu and Udhampur, the CEO added.

The draft roll extracts, mapping migrant electors residing in various zones in Jammu and Udhampur to the respective special polling stations, will be published soon. Any additions, deletions or corrections will be allowed for a period of seven days, Pole said.

Following this, the final photo electoral roll extracts will be published for each polling station, based on which migrant electors will be allowed to vote at these special polling stations like any other voter, by producing the Election Photo Identity Card (EPIC) or any of the 12 alternate photo identity documents notified by the Election Commission, he said.

Migrants residing outside Jammu and Udhampur can now self-certify Form-M, instead of getting it attested by a gazetted officer or other authorities, Pole said.

“Those voters who are required to fill out Form-M – those residing outside Jammu and Udhampur who wish to exercise their franchise in person – should intimate the details of the electors in their families to the designated election officials,” he said.

Additionally, all migrant voters who have not opted to vote in person have the option to vote through postal ballot papers, he said.

The 90 assembly constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir will go to polls in three phases starting September 18. Votes will be counted on October 4.
 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

This sixth phase of the Lok Sabha elections features several high-profile candidates, including Kanhaiya Kumar, the former president of the JNU student’s union, who is now contesting under a Congress banner. Joining him in the fray are BJP leader and former Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, former Union Minister Maneka Gandhi, and actor-turned-politician Manoj Tiwari.

A total of 889 candidates from six states and a Union territory will go to polls today. In the national capital Delhi, seven seats are up for grabs.

Here are the key battles in the sixth phase:

Manoj Tiwari vs Kanhaiya Kumar – Northeast Delhi

In Northeast Delhi, the incumbent MP Manoj Tiwari from the BJP is up against Kanhaiya Kumar, marking one of the most closely watched battles in this phase. Mr Tiwari has been a significant political presence in Delhi. Kanhaiya Kumar, having made a name for himself as a fiery student leader at JNU, joined the Congress in 2021. This election marks his second attempt at a Lok Sabha seat, following his 2019 campaign in Bihar’s Begusarai where he lost to Union Minister Giriraj Singh from the BJP.

Sambit Patra vs Arup Patnaik – Puri

In Odisha’s Puri, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra is contesting against BJD’s Arup Patnaik and Congress’ Jay Narayan Patnaik. Mr Patra recently sparked controversy with his statements, notably claiming that “Lord Jagannath is a devotee (bhakt) of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.” Arup Patnaik, a former Mumbai Police Commissioner, previously contested from Bhubaneswar in 2019, where he was defeated by BJP’s Aparajita Sarangi.

Manohar Lal Khattar vs Divyanshu Budhiraja – Karnal

Former Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, a heavyweight in the BJP, is contesting from Karnal. Mr Khattar faces Congress’s Divyanshu Budhiraja for the Karnal seat. This contest is significant as Mr Khattar’s political experience and prominence in Haryana’s politics are being challenged by a younger opposition.

Bansuri Swaraj vs Somnath Bharti – New Delhi

In the New Delhi constituency, Bansuri Swaraj, daughter of former union minister Sushma Swaraj, is aiming to retain the seat for the BJP. She is up against AAP’s Somnath Bharti, a senior leader in the party. The incumbent MP, Meenakshi Lekhi, who secured a substantial victory margin in 2019, was not given a ticket this time.

Dharmendra Pradhan vs Pranab Prakash Das – Sambalpur 

In Odisha’s Sambalpur, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan  faces off against Pranab Prakash Das, the organisational secretary and second-in-command in Naveen Patnaik’s BJD. In 2019, the BJP’s victory margin was less than 1 per cent, equating to approximately 9,000 votes. In 2014, BJD won with a 3 per cent margin, and in 2009, Congress secured the seat with a 2 per cent margin.