The Srinagar-Budgam Parliamentary seat in Jammu and Kashmir, going to the polls on April 30, will witness a triangular contest between the NC, PDP and AAP.
The high-profile seat comprises three central Kashmir districts -- Srinagar, Ganderbal, and Budgam -- and 15 Assembly segments, eight in Srinagar district, five in Budgam and two in Ganderbal. Of the 15 Assembly seats, two Chadoora and Beerwah are represented by the PDP and the rest by the NC.
According to officials, the Parliamentary constituency currently represented by Union Minister and NC chief Farooq Abdullah has 11.71 lakh voters -- 6,15,259 men and 5,56,493 women.
“The total number of voter ID cards issued in Srinagar district is 5,23,352, which is approximately 93 percent of the registered eligible voters,” said Election Officer.
Fifty-six of Ganderbal district’s 202 polling stations have been declared “sensitive” and 146 “hyper-sensitive”. In the 2009 elections, Abdullah defeated the PDP’s Molvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari, polling 1,47,035 votes against the latter’s 1,16,793. While former Finance Minister Tariq Hamid Karra is the PDP candidate, the AAP has given ticket to RTI activist Muzaffar Bhat. The notification for filing nomination papers for the Lok Sabha seat will be issued on April 2. The last date of filing of nominations is April 9 and the last date for withdrawal of candidature is April 12.