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Ajay Kaul in Doda
Campaigning remains a low-key affair in the militancy-torn district of Doda in Jammu and Kashmir, which has seen large-scale violence in the run-up to the polls.
With three days left for the campaigning to end, candidates are trying to reach out to the electorate through small gatherings at street corners and the odd public meeting.
The 10 candidates in the fray for Doda constituency, including Minister of State for Home Najeeb Khalid Suharwardhi, are nevertheless campaigning with fervour and making tall promises.
Though most political parties have fielded candidates in this constituency, top national leaders are yet to visit the district to garner support.
The star campaigners so far include National Conference president and Union Minister of State for External Affairs Omar Abdullah, Union Minister of State for Defence Chaman Lal Gupta, All-India Congress Committee general secretary and J&K Congress president Ghulam Nabi Azad, and People's Democratic Party leaders Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and Mehbooba Sayeed.
The National Conference is campaigning for a 'new vision and development' under the leadership of Omar Abdullah, while the Congress and the PDP leaders, attacking the misrule of the Farooq Abdullah-led government, promise to bring peace to the militancy-infested state.
The Doda constituency has mostly remained with the National Conference, which has won the seat four out of seven times. The Congress represented the seat twice and the Janata Party once.
Suharwardhi was elected from Doda in the April 1997 bypoll after the seat fell vacant following the death of his father and veteran leader Maulana Attaullah Suharwardhi.
It may be difficult for Suharwardhi to retain the seat this time, primarily due to the anti-party sentiment in the region, coupled with the tough challenge posed by the PDP's Ghulam Qadir Wani.
Among the other candidates in the fray are Mukand Ram of the Congress, Satpal of the Panthers Party, Swami Raj of the Bharatiya Janata Party, and Mohammad Iqbal Wani of the Janata Dal, United.
Security has been tightened amid apprehensions of militants trying to disrupt the electoral process.
An electorate of 70,278, including 30,360 females, is eligible to exercise its franchise at 92 polling stations. Fifty-five of the booths have been classified as hypersensitive and the rest as sensitive.
In Kishtwar, a total of 73,723 voters will exercise their franchise at 93 polling stations, 46 of them sensitive and the rest hypersensitive.
In Inderwal constituency, 66,853 voters will cast their ballots at 86 polling stations.
The Bhaderwah constituency has 107 polling stations, 55 of them hypersensitive and the rest sensitive, and 91,180 voters.
In Ramban, an electorate of 72,928 voters will exercise its franchise through 86 polling stations.
In Banihal constituency, 59,118 voters will decide the fate of nine candidates through 70 polling stations, including 18 hypersensitive booths.
PTI
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