New Delhi

Will the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) be able to realize yet another dream of giving the first non-Muslim Chief Minister in India’s only Muslim majority UT? Will Engineer Rashid, a Lok Sabha member from Baramulla, who campaigned while on temporary bail and must return to the Tihar jail on October 2, emerge as an alternative political force in Kashmir?

These two questions will be addressed as parts of J&K go to the polls in the final phase of the Legislative Assembly elections on October 1.

The election is being held from the Hills of north Kashmir where the Line of control is located to the areas of Jammu with an international border with Pakistan.  Both are highly vulnerable to infiltration from Pakistan and hence the tightest security is in place.

The phase will see 40 Constituencies – 24 from the Jammu region and 16 in Kashmir – going to the polls.

The BJP has high stakes in this round as it has fielded candidates in all 24 Assembly Constituencies in four districts of the Jammu region. The BJP must do well in this round to stay as a dominant force in J&K that it claims to become.

The round is also important for Congress which has fielded 19 candidates while its ally the National Conference is contesting only five seats. Nagrota is the only seat in the final phase where NC and Congress have pitted candidates against each other as a “friendly contest” while both the parties are supporting Panthers Party, leader Harshdev Singh at Chennai.

Engineer Rashid’s nascent party Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) has fielded candidates on all the Valley seats. Since he belongs to North Kashmir’s Langet village, the polling will decide if people follow him or are charmed by his “story of suffering.”

Sajjad Gani Lone, another high profile leader from Kashmir of the People's Conference is also fighting for gaining foothold in north Kashmir. Lone has been an MLA and a Minister earlier. He was an ally of the BJP but has turned against the party in this election. 

Another highlight of the voting will be participation of West Pakistani refugees, Valmiki Samaj and Gorkha community who got the voting rights in Assembly, Urban Local Bodies and Panchayat elections after the abrogation of Article 370. They have earlier voted in Panchayat and ULB polls in 2018.

Most of them live in the areas of Jammu where polling is taking place today.Previously, they were eligible to cast votes only in the Parliament elections.

In all 39.18 lakh voters will decide the political fate of 415 candidates in 40 constituencies spread from the plains of Jammu to the mountains of Kashmir.

Voting is being held in the 40 Assembly constituencies in Jammu, Samba, Kathua, and Udhampur districts of the Jammu division, and in the Baramulla and Kupwara districts of the northern parts of Kashmir Valley.

The Jammu district has 11, Samba three, Kathua six, and Udhampur four Assembly constituencies while Baramulla has seven, Bandipora three, and Kupwara district has six seats.

The Election Commission has set up 5,030 polling stations for voters for the third phase. Special polling stations have also been set up for Kashmiri migrant voters. Of these, 11 are in Jammu, 4 in Delhi, and one in Udhampur district.

EC officials said that all the polling staff with polling material like EVMs, electoral rolls, etc have already moved to their respective destinations. Some of the polling stations in the Baramulla and Kupwara districts are located close to the Line of Control (LoC).

A senior Police officer added that foolproof security is in place throughout J&K, especially in the districts going to vote on Tuesday so that the terrorists and their sympathizers are prevented from interfering with the poll process.

Given the high-pitch campaign done by various political parties and the contesting candidates, it looks likely that many voters will turn out to vote on Tuesday.

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The first two rounds of elections were held on September 18 and 25 and counting of votes will be taken up on October 8.