On the last date of the withdrawal of nomination papers for the first phase of the forthcoming Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir for 24 constituencies, 25 candidates withdrew their candidatures on Friday.
The Office of the Chief Electoral Officer, J&K UT informed that out of the total 244 valid nominations, 25 candidates withdrew their nominations on the last date of withdrawal i.e. Friday, 30 August 2024.
With this, only 219 validly nominated Candidates now remain in the fray for the 24 Assembly constituencies where polling will be held on 18 September 2024.
Seven candidates withdrew their nomination in the Doda district, followed by seven in the Kishtwar district, six in the Ramban district, three in the Anantnag district, one in the Kulgam district, and one in the Pulwama district, while no candidate withdrew their nomination in the Shopian district.
With this, 64 candidates remain in the final electoral fray in Anantnag district, followed by 45 in Pulwama district, 27 in Doda district, 25 in Kulgam district, 22 in Kishtwar district, 21 in Shopian district, while 15 candidates remain in the final fray in Ramban district.
In the Kishtwar district, nine candidates remain in the final electoral fray for election in the Inderwal seat, seven candidates in the Kishtwar segment while six candidates remain in the fray in the Padder-Nagseni constituency.
In the Doda district, 10 candidates remain in the final electoral fray for election in Bhadarwah, nine candidates in Doda, and eight candidates in the Doda West assembly segment.
In the Ramban district, eight candidates remain in the final electoral fray for election in Ramban; while seven candidates will contest in the Banihal assembly segment.
Similarly, in the Pulwama district, fourteen candidates remain in the final electoral fray for election in the Pampore, nine candidates in the Tral assembly constituency, 12 candidates in Pulwama, and ten candidates in the Rajpora segment.
In the Shopian district, 10 candidates remain in the final electoral fray for election in the Zainapora segment and 11 candidates will contest in the Shopian seat.
In the Kulgam district, six candidates remain in the final electoral fray for election in DH Pora; 10 candidates in Kulgam; and nine candidates in the Devsar assembly segment.
64 candidates are in the fray for seven assembly seats of the Anantnag district
In Anantnag district, 10 candidates remain in the final electoral fray for election in Dooru, 10 candidates in Kokernag, nine candidates in Anantnag West; 13 candidates in Anantnag; three candidates in Srigufwara-Bijbehara; 13 candidates in Shangus-Anantnag East and six candidates in Pahalgam assembly constituencies of the district.
It is worth mentioning here that a total of 279 candidates had filed their nomination papers.
Out of these, the Nomination papers of 35 candidates were rejected during scrutiny held on 28 August 2024. And now with the withdrawal of 25 candidates, 219 candidates now remain in the final electoral fray.
It may also be mentioned that more than 23.27 lakh voters including 5.66 lakh youths are eligible to exercise their electoral franchise during the first phase of the Assembly elections scheduled to be held on 18 September 2024, of which 11.76 lakh are male voters and 11.51 lakh female voters along with 60 third gender electors.
