Over 38 per cent of Gujjar-Bakarwal electors live in Rajouri and Poonch district, which makes their influence on the election outcome for the Anantnag-Rajouri constituency extremely important.

These measures include increased deployment of security personnel, area dominations in hill regions, additional checkpoints and round-the-clock monitoring in the region and at vital installations, officials said on Thursday.

Around 200 additional companies of the Jammu and Kashmir Armed Police have been deployed in the two districts to ensure peaceful polling.

The nomadic Gujjar and Bakarwal population in the constituency, which includes Rajouri and Poonch, will migrate to higher elevations in Kashmir by mid-May and may not be able to vote.

The former chief ministers appealed after the EC sought a report from Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo and the Chief Electoral Officer on representations submitted by some parties and three candidates seeking rescheduling of elections in the constituency due to adverse weather conditions.

From 1984 onwards, no women were elected to Parliament from Jammu and Kashmir till 2004. it was Mehbooba Mufti of PDP who contested from Anantnag and became an MP from the erstwhile state after a gap of 20 years.

The party had decided to field advocate Mohammad Saleem Parray instead of Azad from the constituency, DPAP provincial president Mohammad Amin Bhat told reporters in Anantnag.

PDP Parliamentary Board Chief Sartaj Madni on Sunday announced the party candidates for the three seats of Kashmir.

The Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency has historically been a battleground between the Abdullahs' National Conference (NC) and the Muftis' Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Interestingly, both are part of the INDI alliance, yet aim to field candidates on all J&K seats.