NC-Congress clash during poll campaign in J&K

Thursday, November 13, 2008 (Srinagar) : Election campaigning between rival National Conference and Congress at the prestigious Ganderbal Assembly turned ugly when some supporters of Congress pelted stones at the motorcade of Omar Abdullah, triggering clashes.

Police had to resort to lathicharge and later burst teargas shells to disperse supporters of the two rival parties at Barsu village in Ganderbal, 30 km from Srinagar.

National Conference President Omar Abdullah had crossed the area when the supporters of the two parties fought pitched battles.

Omar, contesting assembly polls from the Ganderbal constituency, was campaigning in the area and pass through Barsu village where Congress Candidate Sheikh Ishfaq Ahmad was holding a public meeting.

As soon as the Congress workers came to know about the arrival of Omar in the area, they moved towards his motorcade forcing the police to take action.

Omar, who contested unsuccessfully from this constituency in 2002, sought to downplay the incident saying all this happens in a democracy.

3 women among 102 contestants in 1st phase of JK polls

Jammu, November 13: Three women contestants among 102 in fray would try their fortune in the first phase of Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections.

The first phase polling in 10 constituencies of Bandipora, Leh, Kargil and Poonch districts will be held on November 17.

Tabassum Bano of Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers party and Sarita Sharma of Bhartiya Chaitanya Party will contest from Poonch-Haveli constituency of Jammu division, while Gowsia Bashir, independent contender from Bandipora, is the lone woman candidate from Kashmir Valley.

There is no women contestant in the fray from Ladakh region in the first phase of polls.