Srinagar, May 10: The high-stakes Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency is set to witness a final blitzkrieg of rallies and roadshows by political parties on Saturday, marking an intense culmination to their campaign efforts to woo over 17 lakh voters ahead of Monday’s polling.
From an initial 39 candidates who filed nominations, the contest has narrowed down to a 24-cornered fight for this crucial parliamentary seat. Over the past two weeks, party leaders have crisscrossed the five districts and 18 assembly segments under Srinagar, holding rallies and roadshows where they trained their guns on the government’s policies in a bid to sway voters. As D-Day approaches, the campaigning has reached a feverish pitch with all contestants making a final all-out push to seek support and consolidate their vote bases in this high-profile electoral battle.
Amidst the election fervor, the parties like National Conference (NC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and others held the rallies at different places today, which attracted a massive crowd in Chadoora area and Ganderbal respectively.
In Chadoora, NC President, Dr Farooq Abdullah addressed the gathering where he talked to the reporters and lashed Ghulam Nabi Azad, Chairman of Democratic Azad Progressive Party (DPAP).
Moreover, the gathering in Ganderbal was addressed by PDP Chief Mehbooba Mufti, who sought votes from the people for party’s Srinagar constituency candidate, Waheed Parra and said that the candidate has bore the brunt like other as he remained in the jail for three years and is being accused of getting the jailed people out of the prison.
Moreover, these rallies will end today across the 18 Assembly segments where polling will take place on Monday (May 13). A total of 17.4 lakh electorates will decide the fate of 24 candidates.
Of total 17.4 lakh voters, more than two lakh are the first-time electorates.
Meanwhile, for the first time, the poll authorities in Srinagar have prepared 32 theme-based polling booths that are colour-coordinated as per its message in a bid to create a “festival-like environment” on the day of voting.
Polling booths in pink, red, blue have been prepared as per their theme i.e women voters, PwD voters and young voters. Eight polling booths have also been set up to go with its theme of environmental sustainability.
