Jammu- Jammu Parliamentary constituency is all set to go for the polls during the second phase of General Elections which will seal the deal for the arch rivals Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress Party.
The fate of 22 candidates, who are in the fray, will be decided by over 17.80 lakh voters on the Jammu Parliamentary seat.
There is a direct fight between BJP’s Jugal Kishore Sharma and Congress party’s Raman Bhalla. As Sharma sought votes on the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bhalla reminded people his good work done in Jammu in the past when he represented Gandhinagar Assembly constituency of Jammu district in J&K Legislative Assembly and also when he was minister in Omar Abdullah led National Conference (NC)-Congress coalition government.
After delimitation exercise, barring Sunderbani-Kalaote Assembly segment, Rajouri and Poonch districts were separated from Jammu Parliamentary constituency and Reasi district, which was earlier part of Udhampur Lok Sabha seat, was made part of it. The new shape of this constituency is suiting a particular party and its candidates depending upon the earlier trend for the last two Lok Sabha elections and this time also the incumbent Member Parliament (MP) is hopeful to win it.
At present, 17,80,835 lakh voters including 9,21,095 male and 8,59,712 female voters besides 28 third gender electorates are eligible to vote for this seat. Out of the total voters, 10498 people are registered as Persons with Disability (PWD) and 666 voters are above the age of 100 who will be exercising their franchise to send their leader to Lok Sabha for the next five years. This constituency consists of 11 Assembly segments of Jammu district including Bishnah, Suchetgarh, Ranbir Singh Pura (Jammu-south), Bahu, Jammu East, Nagrota, Jammu West, Jammu North, Marh, Akhnoor and Chamb, three Assembly segments of Samba district including Ramgarh, Samba and Vijaypur, three Assembly segments of Reasi district including Gulabgarh, Reasi and Shri Mata Vasihno Devi and one Assembly segment of Rajouri district Kalakote-Sunderbani.
According to the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) J&K, around 2,416 polling stations have been established all across three districts and one Assembly segment of Rajouri district to ensure smooth polling. More than 15000 polling staff, including reserves will be deployed on duty on the polling day and the election staff including Presiding Officers will be stationed in every polling station.
Around 50 polling stations have been established in border areas of Jammu district whereas 2 such polling stations are there in Samba district.
The voting will begin at 7 am and the first voter will be provided a rose at every polling station and the polling will continue till 6 pm. The voting will go beyond 6 pm if there will be voters’ queue is still there inside the polling station premises. Before the polling begins, a mock polling drill will be held at every polling station to test the preparedness.
To facilitate the smooth polling, the election commission of India has provided Assured Minimum Facilities (AMF) like drinking water, electricity, toilet, ramp, furniture, verandah, sheds besides wheelchairs will also be provided to the needy. The ballot unit will also have a list of contesting candidates in brail script. Wherever required, there will be separate queues for senior citizens and specially-abled persons facilitating them with early polling. Additionally, there will be a voter help desk, manned by the concerned Booth Level Officer (BLO).
On the directions of ECI, 10 Pink booths, which will be managed by only women staff for women voters, have been established in the constituency whereas 10 booths have been established particularly for specially-abled voters. The ECI has also established nine booths for the youth.
The voter can carry any of the 12 types of document which can establish his identity to the polling station and the electoral photo identity card (EPIC) hasn’t been made mandatory for the ECI.
Besides, the Voter Turnout App will be used to display estimated provisional voter turnout details of each Parliamentary Constituency entered by the Returning Officer (RO). The approximate voter turnout data of each phase of the elections will be displayed through this app. There will be two hourly reporting of voting percentage from 9.00 am to the end of the poll. The concerned ARO and RO will share the data with the media accordingly.
Around 1454 polling stations in phase 2 will have CCTV cameras for live webcasting to control rooms established at the District and CEO office. Around 124 polling stations will have two cameras for inside and outside surveillance. Around 2000 vehicles of Polling parties and sector officers will be equipped with a GPS system so as to locate the vehicle and monitor movement, including over speeding. Satellite Phones, Wireless sets and Special Runners have been put in place in around 13 polling stations which fall in communication shadow areas.
Border Issues Take Center Stage
One of the major issues around which the election campaigning of political parties in Jammu revolves is border areas.
Be it people living on the International Border (IB) or Line of Control (LoC), the politics and politicians of Jammu can’t ignore their sufferings and issues.
This election also people from both government as well as opposition sides have tried to raise the issues which suits their politics and which can earn them votes of the border dwellers.
Out of the 18 Assembly segments of Jammu constituency, nine segments have votes in border areas, both on IB and LoC. These include Ramgarh and Samba Assembly segments of Samba district, Bishnah, Suchetgarh, Ranbir Singh Pura, Marh, Akhnoor and Chamb of district Jammu and Sunderbani-Kalakote Assembly segment of Rajouri district.
The border belt is home to Jats, scheduled caste, west Pakistani refugees and Sikh population and mostly they are dependent on farming for their livelihood. Youth were getting employment in the Army and their farming background was helping them to earn a place in the Army because of the tough circumstances.
One major issue which the border people faced was firing and shelling from across the border which had made their life hell.
“Every now and then border people had to migrate to safer places when Pakistan was resorting to shelling mortars on the borders. Firing had made their lives hell but since 2014 when Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister things have changed and border dwellers are happy. There are no more shelling and firing on the borders, which enable smooth farming, and children can attend their schools without any hindrance,” Ashwani Sharma, former MLA Bishnah and senior BJP leader said.
He said that beside the peaceful atmosphere on the borders, the Modi government has given reservation to the people living on IB. “Earlier, the reservation was only for people living on LoC but now IB people are also getting the reservation. Moreover, in case of any untoward death on IB, the government provides Rs 5 lakh ex-gratia to next of the kin which was not earlier there,” Sharma added.
The Election Commissioner of India has established 62 polling stations on border areas which include 50 in Jammu district and 12 in Samba district where thousands of voters living close to the border will be casting their votes.
On the other hand, the Congress party believes that all this is a hoax and border people are suffering more as compared to yesteryears. “The BJP government has done injustice to the people of border areas who were part of the farmers’ protest and have intentionally reserved their seats to schedule caste (SC). Farmers are suffering and they have nowhere to go,” said T.S. Tony, DDC member from Suchetgarh and a senior Congress leader.
“Unemployment is the major issue of people of border areas and another major issue is Agniveer. Youth living on borders preferred working in the Army then doing any other thing but since this Agniveer scheme has been launched, it has brought down the morale of educated youth,” he said.
“Now, due to this scheme, the son is retiring before his father and they see a depressing future ahead,” Tony added. Another opposition leader and former RTI activist Rohit Choudhary, who is associated with National Conference (NC), has echoed Tony’s statement and said that people living on the borders are not happy with the incumbent system.
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