Jammu Redefining Magazine Vol.2 No.-5 | Page 3

Jammu Redefining 3 | March 9-March 22, 2014 Thin Attendance At Election Rallies Worries Alliance Partners Congress and National Conference leaders in a rally T J.R. News Service HE alliance partners Congress and the National Conference may face an uphill task in the run up to the Lok Sabha polls to win both the seats in Jammu region. The three day long whirlwind election tour of Union Health and Family welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad to the border districts of Rajouri and Poonch has exposed the coordination between the alliance partners as the expected turnout at the venue of the rallies left a distaste in the mouth of the senior alliance leaders. If the total number of people who turned up at the venue of these rallies is any indication it clearly means the party cadre had failed to garner support of local masses in large numbers and nowhere the actual size of the rally even touched 5,000. According to liberal estimates the total strength of rallies hovered around 2500-4000. Azad who was accompanied by PCC Chief Prof Saif Ud Din Soz and leaders of the National Conference including Provincial President National Conference DS Rana and Planning Minister Ajay Sadhotra, Congress candidate Madan Lal Sharma and battery of other senior leaders was not happy with the poor turnout of people. Interestingly, in all the speeches Azad maintained that there is wave in support of NC-CONG in the state and denied reports of Modi wave but thin attendance of masses in the first round of electioneering has alerted the party to be more cautions in the coming days and has given them the opportunity to work hard in mobilising supporters of the Kalakote-Mendhar Rally party ahead of the polling day. The party cadre in the frontier districts of the state claimed that the senior party leaders in the area were responsible as they have been ignoring the demands of the local masses and in the election season have failed to win over the trust of the masses. BJP EYEING TWO LOK SABHA SEATS IN JAMMU, AZAD NOT WILLING TO FIGHT, NC-PDP LOCK HORNS IN VALLEY (Contd. from Page 1) Congress and National Conference leaders addressed joint campaign meetings in support of Madan Lal Sharma in Rajouri and Poonch districts and urged voters to defeat the divisive forces. At the same time the Peoples Democratic Party candidates are all set to give tough competition to the ruling party candidates and if kashmiri electorate would decide in support of punishing the sitting MP's the National Conference top brass may face piquant situation. Presence of PDP Chief Mehbooba Mufti and former Deputy Chief Minister Muzaffar Hussain Baig on Anantnag abd Baramulla seat would make it a battle royale for the sitting MP's Dr Farooq Abdullah and Dr Mehboob Baig, Rebellion in National Conference may compound miseries of the party at the hustings in Kashmir valley and may propel the PDP candidates to victory. Jammu Parliamentary Constituency Election 2014 Dates Issue of Notification: 15 Mar (Saturday) Last Date for filing Current Sitting MP (Member of Parliament) from Jammu Nominations:22 Mar (Saturday) Scrutiny of Nominations: 24 Mar (Monday) Last date for withdrawal of Candidature: 26 Mar (Wednesday) Polling Date:10 April (Thursday) Counting of Votes:16 May (Friday) Date before which the election shall be Completed:28 May (Wednesday) Udhampur Parliamentary Constituency Election 2014 Dates Issue of Notification: 19 Mar (Wednesday) Last Date Nominations:26 (Wednesday) for filing Mar Scrutiny of Nominations: 27 Mar (Thursday) Last date for withdrawal of Candidature: 29 Mar (Saturday) Polling Date:17 April (Thursday) Counting (Friday) of Votes:16 May Date before which the election shall be Completed:28 May (Wednesday) Current Sitting MP (Member of Parliament) from Udhampur