LS polls: 25 candidates file nominations from J&K’s Anantnag-Rajouri constituency

Anantnag (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], April 20 (ANI): Anantnag Deputy Commissioner and Returning Officer Syeed Fakhrudin Hamid announced that 25 candidates submitted nomination papers for the Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha seat in Jammu and Kashmir.

Scrutiny is scheduled for Saturday at 10 am. Nominations can be withdrawn until April 22, and symbol allotment will be done on April 23, he added.

“We have received 28 nomination papers, of which 3 candidates have submitted their nomination papers twice. So we have twenty-five candidates. The scrutiny date is set for Saturday at 10 am. The last date for withdrawal of nominations is April 22, and the allotment of symbols will take place on April 23,” Hamid said on Friday.

Key candidates contesting from Anantnag-Rajouri include PDP’s Mehbooba Mufti, National Conference’s Mian Altaf, Apni Party’s Zaffar Iqbal Manhas, and Democratic Progressive Azad Party’s Mohammad Saleem Parray.

On Friday, voting was held in Jammu and Kashmir’s Udhampur constituency in the first phase of Lok Sabha elections.

Udhampur constituency recorded a voter turnout of 68.27 per cent as the polling for the first phase of Lok Sabha elections concluded on Friday.

This is the first Lok Sabha election in Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370. The elections to the five seats in Jammu and Kashmir will be held in five phases.

While voting was held in Udhampur on Friday, Jammu will go to polls on April 26, Anantnag-Rajouri on May 7, Srinagar on May 13, and Baramulla on May 20.

Earlier, there were six seats for J-K, including Ladakh. But, following the abrogation of Article 370 by the Parliament, Ladakh does not have a Lok Sabha constituency. In the 2019 elections, the BJP won three seats, while the National Conference won the other three seats.