As counting of votes begins for the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections 2024, leads and trends will start coming in shortly. Among the prominent candidates in the Union Territory is Apni Party chief Syed Altaf Bukhari who is contesting from the Channapora seat in Srinagar. The Channapora constituency voted in the second phase of three-phase Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir.

Altaf Bukhari Net Worth: Bukhari is one of only three candidates in the Jammu and Kashmir elections to have total assets more than Rs 100 crore, according to a report from the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Jammu & Kashmir Election Watch. He is, in fact, the richest man in the fray, with total assets worth Rs 165 crore.

In the Channapora seat, Bukhari is up against PDP’s Mohammed Iqbal Trumboo, National Conference’s Mushtaq Guroo and BJP’s Hilal Ahmad Wani.

In its election manifesto, Bukhari’s J&K Apni Party has promised the restoration of statehood, the release of imprisoned youth and the quashing of Public Safety Act (PSA). It added that if voted to power, the party will fight to restore the amended laws, protect land, jobs and return of Kashmiri Pandits.

Bukhari has also promised to protect the culture and identity of J&K, and restoration of bicameral legislature as the state had before abrogation of Article 370.

Other promses include the return of migrant Kashmiri Pandits, reviewing the Forest Rights Act, transfer of hydropower projects from NHPC to J&K ownership, ensuring job quotas for locals in hydropower projects, development of tourism by focusing on historical places and those unexplored places with scenic beauty, youth employment and social security by enhancing the monthly pension to old aged people, widows and people with disability from present Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000.

Apni Party also promised free 500 units of electric power per month to every household in J&K.

Abhay Singh Chautala, a senior leader of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), has held the Ellenabad Assembly constituency in Haryana since 2010. In the 2024 Haryana Assembly elections, held on October 5, Ellenabad recorded a 67% voter turnout, slightly higher than the state’s overall turnout of 65.65%.

Track Haryana Election LIVE

Chautala, son of former Chief Minister OP Chautala, is seeking re-election from Ellenabad, facing Congress’ Bharat Singh Beniwal and BJP’s Amir Chand Talwara, both of whom have previously contested unsuccessfully from this key Sirsa district seat.

In recent elections, Chautala has maintained a strong hold on the constituency, benefiting from a three-way contest. In the 2021 by-poll, he secured 65,992 votes, defeating BJP’s Gobind Kanda (59,253 votes) and Congress’ Pawan Beniwal, who garnered only 20,904 votes. The by-poll was triggered by Chautala’s resignation in protest against the now-repealed farm laws.

In the 2019 Assembly elections, Chautala defeated BJP’s Pawan Beniwal by a margin of 11,922 votes. At that time, out of 1,81,021 eligible voters in the segment, 1,50,684 participated in the election.

The Julana Assembly constituency in Haryana is going to be the watched election battle as the counting for the 2024 Assembly polls in Haryana is underway. With two widely popular personalities — wrestler Vinesh Phogat from Congress and Captain Yogesh Bairagi from BJP — contesting against each other, the results for the Julana Assembly seat is much awaited.

As the early trends come in, Phogat is leading from the Julana Assembly constituency.

Wrestler-turned-politician Vinesh Phogat remained the key player in Julana after she was nominated by Congress soon after she joined the party. Phogat joined the Indian National Congress and entered the world of politics after she retired from wrestling following the Paris Olympics 2024.

Notably, Phogat participated in the wrestlers’ anti-sexual harassment protest against the former chief of the Wrestling Federation of India and ex-MP of BJP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.

In addition to Phogat, 11 other candidates have also contested from the Julana Assembly constituency. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Yogesh Bairagi, who earlier served in the Army for nearly nine years and is a former commercial pilot, is being termed to be the key contender against Phogat.

Julana had over 1.85 lakh eligible voters, with 40 percent of them from the Jat community. Voting across all 90 seats in the Haryana Legislative Assembly was conducted in a single phase on October 5.