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Tara Shankar Sahay in Srinagar
Adequate security arrangements have been made for the third phase of election to the Jammu and Kashmir state assembly scheduled for Tuesday.
Addressing a press conference in Srinagar on Monday, Chief Electoral Officer Pramod Jain said: "There are apprehensions about violence, but necessary arrangements have been made to deploy adequate forces so that the fear level comes down."
When asked for details of sensitive and hyper-sensitive constituencies, he said: "I will not be able to share the details of deployment of security forces."
Polling for 26 seats spread across four districts -- Anantnag, Pulwama, Kathua and Udhampur -- will be held at 2,045 booths with over 17.81 lakh voters deciding the fate of 226 contestants.
Parallely, repolling will also take place at nine booths all of which belong to the constituencies that went to polls in the first and second phases.
Nine women candidates, including Peoples Democratic Party's Mehbooba Mufti and Minister of State for Tourism Sakeena Itoo, are in the fray in the third phase.
Election Commission sources said terrorist organisations are active in several of the 26 constituencies going to polls on Tuesday.
The anti-incumbency factor is likely to work against National Conference candidates. A majority of the people rediff.com spoke to said they were unhappy with the ruling party's performance.
"The high pedigree of the Abdullahs won't bail them out this time. There is a limit to their false promises. If we can bring them to power, we can also throw them out," said Mehfooz Ali, a student.
"The third phase covers militancy infested areas. In several constituencies there hardly has been any campaigning," he said.
"I think Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah's stars are on the wane," said Gulnar Ahmed, a shopper at Maisuma, a busy marketplace. "Why do these people surface like frogs during the election season? Rest of the time both father and son are inaccessible. What do they know about problems poor Kashmiris face?" she asked.
"We have no hopes from the father-son duo, they live in their own world," said Mohammed Nazir, a rickshaw driver.
At the Congress office, party's candidate from Batmaloo, Ghulam Mohammed Sheikh, complained that a senior election officer in his constituency had broken the official seal of the strong room where electronic voting machines were kept. He said he had faxed his complaint to the Election Commission.
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