Srinagar, Dec 10 (ANI): Independent and rebel candidates, who have joined in a big way the election fray in Jammu and Kashmir are expected to cut into the vote share of the mainstream political parties in the state.
Jammu and Kashmir is in the midst of seven-phase election with 39 of total 87 constituencies already gone to polls. More than 1300 candidates are testing their fate. Among them are a large number of independents including party rebels who were denied tickets by their respective political parties.
Surender Singh Shingari, one of the independent contestants said that many of the independents have joined the fray, as people want change in the system.
"We are contesting this election to express our disappointment with other political parties be it, Congress or the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). People want to set up a new system," Shingari added.
Some of the voters said they want new faces to come into politics, as they are willing to take more initiative.
"We want new faces to come up as they have more capacity to work, take more initiative. We want them to come up and see in which way the winds blow," said Pratibha Suri, a resident.
Many voters said that they would not go by the party labels of the candidates but would check the antecedents of the candidate before exercising their franchise.
"We have taken a decision that we will choose a person who deserves to be our representative," said Rajendra Singh, another resident.
Meanwhile, the stage is all set for the fifth-phase of polling in the state, which is scheduled for Saturday.
Polling will take place for 11 assembly seats in the districts of Kathua in Jammu region and at Shopian and Pulwama in the Kashmir Valley.
The 11 constituencies are Tral, Pampore, Pulwama and Rajpora in Pulwama district, Wachi and Shopian in Shopian district and Bani, Basohli, Kathua, Billawar and Hiranagar in Kathua district.
Of the 179 contestants, there are five women in the fray, in the three districts of Pulwama, Shopian and Kathua districts. 58 independents are also in the ring in this phase of elections.
Among these constituencies, Shopian and Tral have the distinction of having the highest number of 21 contestants each in the electoral fray.
In this phase, 73 candidates will contest from Pulwama district, which include 21 from Tral, 15 from Pampore, 19 from Pulwama and 18 from Rajpora Assembly constituencies. The total electors in the Pulwama district are 2,93,127.
The sixth and seventh phase of polls in the state will be held on December 17 and 24.
The results will be declared on December 28. (ANI)
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