As many as 586 candidates are in the fray in this phase with the seats spread across Saharanpur, Bijnor, Moradabad, Sambhal, Rampur, Amroha, Budaun, Bareilly and Shahjahanpur.
According to officials, inflammatory speeches were made during a protest against derogatory remarks made against Prophet Mohammad by now-suspended Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Nupur Sharma.
The Election Commission will hold biennial elections on February 13 to seven Rajya Sabha seats, including those held by Union Ministers Vayalar Ravi and Saif-ud-Din Soz as also National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah. Elections would be held for four seats in Jammu and Kashmir and three in Kerala.
The development came barely two days before the Supreme Court was to hear the matter related to her detention. The Deputy Commissioner ordered that the PSA has been revoked with immediate effect. Her detention period had been extended for a period of three months on July 31 this year.
At the same time, the chief minister added, "We have decided to review the policy to remove any misconceptions in this regard."
There are two constituencies in the district, including Kangan and the prestigious Ganderbal constituency from where National Conference president Omar Abdullah is pitched against eleven other candidates, including Qazi Mohammad Afzal of the People's Democratic Party and Sheikh Mohammad Ashfaq of the Congress.
Omar had lost the seat to People's Democratic Party candidate Qazi Mohammad Afzal during 2002 assembly polls, which proved crucial in the formation of the Mufti Mohammad Sayeed-led PDP Congress coalition government that ruled the state for nearly six years.
The biggest electoral upset in the state was witnessed in Anantnag with National Conference candidate and former high court judge Hasnain Masoodi defeating former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti.
'When those who took oath in the name of the Indian Constitution are not acceptable, where do the other Kashmiris stand?'
Moderate to brisk voting was recorded in the two constituencies of Ganderbal and Kangan in north Kashmir Sunday as authorities again clamped undeclared curfew in the rest of the Valley to prevent the proposed separatist march in Srinagar.
'I am not sure of the numbers killed, but they were not as high as the use of the word 'genocide' suggests.' 'There is another meaning you could take, 'cultural genocide', in that the Pandit community is extremely small and their forced departure led to a wiping out of their culture.'
Outside Rampur, Azam Khan's name may be an alias for controversy. But Rampur's voters believe that all the improvements in their constituency has been accomplished only by the man they have elected 8 times to the state assembly.
Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah, who is opposed to the execution of Mohammed Afzal, has said the death punishment for the Parliament terror attack convict is "too extreme".
The chief patron of opposition National Conference told reporters here that as per media reports, Afzal appeared to be\ninnocent and he had not been given a chance to defend himself.
Sayeed, Abdullah and Bhat appeared together at the centenary celebrations of S P College where they studied 50 years ago.
The BSF opened fire in Pakharpora near Charar-e-Sharif area to quell stone-pelting protesters in which at least one person was killed and five injured.
Opposition Peoples Democratic Party patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed has urged the Union government to return the mortal remains of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru to his family for burial 'to retrieve trust of the people of Kashmir'.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday said he would discuss the issue of providing security to panchayat members at the next meeting of the Unified Headquarters to ensure their safety and smooth functioning.
The Jammu and Kashmir government is working on changes in the laws relating to rape to make these more stringent.
In his brief address, the external affairs minister said India's friendship with Afghanistan is "strong and unshaken" and that no part of the country is untouched by New Delhi's development programmes.
'Aggravated fears about the fate of Article 370 and Article 35A of the Constitution have reopened old wounds and laid bare the widening emotional distance between Srinagar and New Delhi,' says Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the distinguished commentator on Kashmir affairs.
A total of 123 candidates, including seven ministers of Congress-National Conference coalition, eight former ministers and legislators are in fray for the Jammu and Kashmir's first phase of elections scheduled later this month.
The chain of events set off by 'August 9, 1953' has swept away many illusions, demolished quite a few landmarks and woven an altogether new tapestry of the Centre-state relationship, says Mohammad Sayeed Malik.
The Congress hit out at the BJP, demanding the immediate arrest of those who have defamed India at the international level instead of enacting a "drama of action".
Four persons, including a Pakistani terrorist and his accomplice, were killed in a gunfight in Hyderpora locality of Srinagar late Monday evening. The dead also included the house owner and a doctor, whom police dubbed as 'terror associates'.
Clarifying her stand on alleged custodial death of a ruling National Conference activist, opposition Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday said that her party was not demanding the dismissal of the state government on the issue, but only stepping down of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and his junior home minister Nasir Aslam Wani to enable a fair investigation.
Only three per cent of women candidates have been allotted tickets in Jammu and Kashmir assembly polls.
While Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said that he would present his case before the judicial inquiry ordered by the state government into mysterious death of Syed Mohammad Yousuf, a National Conference worker last week, People's Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti is unwilling to buy his theory.
The Jammu and Kashmir government has rubbished allegations by the Opposition Peoples Democratic Party about the death of a worker of the ruling National Conference allegedly in police custody. PDP has demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and Minister of State for Home Nasir Aslam Wani so that the "judicial probe can proceed impartially'.
Jammu and Kashmir Congress minister Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed will continue in the council of ministers, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said on Saturday, a day after he divested him of education portfolio in the wake of examination scandal involving his step-son.
The suspension of four National Conference members had prompted the opposition leaders to boycott the ongoing session of the Jammu and Kashmir assembly.
>All old signposts have been uprooted and milestones bulldozed. New ones have yet to emerge. The old order stands degraded in the new landscape whose contours are indistinct, observes Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the distinguished commentator on Kashmir affairs.
An anti-corruption court on Tuesday rejected the plea of the family of the ruling National Conference activist Sayeed Mohammad Yusuf, who allegedly died in police custody on September 30, for a Central Bureau of Investigation probe.
Raja Ijaz, inspector general crime of Jammu and Kashmir police, has denied comments attributed to him by Syed Talib about his father Syed Mohammad Yousuf, who died under mysterious circumstances after a meeting with Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.
Reeling under strict restrictions with no access to communication since August 5 when the Centre announced its decision to end Jammu and Kashmir's special status under Article 370 and bifurcate the state into two union territories, the people in the Valley have been facing a hair-raising challenge of finding a hairdresser to have their unkempt beards trimmed and unruly locks chopped.
With political stalemate continuing in Jammu and Kashmir, National Conference's working president Omar Abdullah on Monday held a meeting with top party leaders where it was decided that it will have no tie-up with the Bharatiya Janata Party but was ready to support the Peoples Democratic Party in the government-formation.
The report published in the gazettes of India appeared in local newspapers on Monday and showed that Habba Kadal seat in Kashmir division and Suchetgarh seat in Jammu province had been restored.
Security forces cordoned off the area and launched a search operation to track down the assailants but no arrests have been made so far, the officials said on Monday.
One of the most wanted terrorist, Mudasir Pandit, and a Pakistani ultra were among the three terrorist killed in an overnight encounter with security forces in the Sopore area of Jammu and Kashmir's Baramulla district, police said.
