Ramgarh (Samba), Oct 1 (Reporter) I reached the polling booth at 7:05 AM and was very excited to cast my vote nearly after a decade and there was no fear of shelling at all, said Hukam Chand (73), a septuagenarian standing in queue waiting for his turn to exercise his right to franchise at one of the polling booths situated close to the International Border. “The border villages in the initial hours witnessed a heavy rush of voters, which swelled as the day progressed. This election is for peace and development,” he expressed. Chand said that the border residents are not anymore living in fear of shelling and firing and heavy turnout in these belts has proven that people are happy with the established peace and development. “I will be voting for the first time and my vote will decide my future,” Ankush Sharma (18) said. “Jammu and Kashmir needs a stable government having a vision of progress and harmony across the region and giving opportunity to its youth to prosper,” he said. “We can freely move close to the zero-line, and cultivate our fields situated near the fence as there is no cross-border shelling anymore. Normalcy exists and it brings progress,” Shanno Devi, 51, a housewife said. She said that the border people have given a clear message to Pakistan that they reached the polling stations in large numbers to vote for prevailing peace, development, and welfare of the residents. At Jerda in Ramgarh Assembly Constituency (69), the administration has established a special border polling station (21) on Ramgarh-Sialkot border, just a few meters away from the International Border. Voting is underway for the third and last phase of the assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir in 40 constituencies spread across seven districts amidst tight security arrangements. The constituencies are 16 in three districts of the Kashmir Valley (Kupwara, Baramulla, and Bandipora) and 24 in four districts of Jammu division (Jammu, Udhampur, Kathua, and Samba). Over 39 lakh electors will decide the fate of 415 candidates in the fray from 40 constituencies. “For the first time, the administration has set up a border polling station at village Jerda--the last village close to the India-Pakistan border in Ramgarh sector of Samba district,” said an official. “First time in the last six decades, people of Jerda village cast their vote at a special border polling station as previously, they had to travel five to six kilometres to vote, which also hampered the polling percentage,” he stated. The specialty of this polling station is that if neighbouring Pakistan tries to make any attempt of mischief (firing) to disrupt peaceful voting, a bunker is set up nearby for safety and to provide immediate shelter to the voters, he said. Air-conditioning facilities are also installed at this polling station, adding he said, “366 polling stations are established in Samba district out of which 34 are close to the border while a contingency plan has also been made to deal with any emergency.” Ramgarh Assembly Constituency is a notified area committee in the Samba district and is a reserved seat for Scheduled Castes (SC). There is a direct contest between Dr Devinder Kumar Manyal (BJP) and Yash Paul Kundal—a former Congress Minister. The other contesting candidates are Manoj Kumar (Independent), Parshotam Singh (BSP), Rakesh Kumar (JKNPP-Bhim), Sahil Bharti, (J&K Apni Party) and Surinder Kumar Attri (Aazad Samaj Party-Kanshi Ram)...////...