Jammu, October 1: Jammu on Tuesday witnessed a mix of prominent politicians and people who were deprived of their right to vote in the last seven decades or so, celebrated the ‘festival of democracy’ by casting their votes in the third and final J&K Assembly elections stage.
The 11 assembly wards of Jammu district are among the 24 constituencies in Jammu district that are going to polls today.
Apart from the West Pakistani refugees, the election was also a watershed moment for the Warmik and Gorkha people of Jammu as they also got the chance to vote in the assembly elections for the first time. Members of these communities broke out into celebrations and emotional outbursts outside polling stations.
The Day of Democracy also sees bigwigs joining other voters at the polling stations to cast their votes.
Democratic Progressive Azad Party president and former chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, Union Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Dr Jitendra Singh and another senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party Devinder Singh G Rana and other major politicians cast their votes at polling stations set up in Gandhinagar and Trikutta Nagar.
Azad was one of the early voters at Gandhinagar polling station. After the vote, Azad said in an interview with the media that unemployment is the biggest problem facing Johnson & Johnson. “Young people are suffering because of unemployment. This issue requires immediate attention because it can make or hurt the future of our state,” he said in response to a query on major election issues.
Azad urged all eligible voters to cast their votes, “The voters of J&K will decide and form the government.”
Jitendra Singh, MP from Udhampur-Doda-Kathua constituency, along with his son and wife, were also at a polling station in Trikuta Nagar in Bahu Assembly district exercised the right to vote.
Apart from Jammu district, Samba, Kathua and Udhampur districts also went to polls today.
Similarly, Rana, who hails from Nagrota Congress segment, also cast her vote at a polling station in Gandhinagar.
Gandhinagar is also a part of the Bahu assembly unit. Speaking to the media, Jitendra Singh said that the overwhelming participation of people in the assembly elections showed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had successfully brought J&K into the mainstream of democracy. He criticized the Congress, NC and People’s Democratic Party for using Article 370 and Article 35 A to serve their interests. Rana claimed that the people had shown their faith in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s policies and reiterated that the BJP would form the government in J&K with an absolute majority.
On the other hand, Valmiki community representative Gharu Bhatti said in response to media queries: “October 1, 2024 is a historic day for our community as our community got the right to vote after a long struggle of about 70 years. We Thanks to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. We were brought from Pathankot but we have suffered for generations now.”
N Mattoo, another member of the community, also expressed similar views and claimed that the community will be a part of the growth story of J&K.
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