Assembly constituencies along the Line of Control (LOC) in the Jammu region recorded brisk polling on Wednesday with 54.11% voting recorded across the 26 assembly seats of Jammu and Kashmir where elections were held in the second phase.
Chief Electoral Officer PK Pole said the elections passed off peacefully with no major untoward incident reported from anywhere. The district-wise polling percentage was Budgam 58.97%, Ganderbal 58.81%, Poonch 71.59%, Rajouri 68.22%, Reasi 71.81% and Srinagar 27.37%.
The turnout of voters was higher in the Jammu region than what was witnessed in the Kashmir valley.
Long queues of men and women were seen at the polling booths across the Union Territory (UT) since early morning when polling started at 7 am.
Two constituencies, Ganderbal and Budgam, from where the former chief minister Omar Abdullah is contesting, recorded 53.44% and 47.18% polling respectively. Omar accompanied his father and NC chief Dr. Farooq Abdullah to cast his vote early in the morning in the Burn Hall School in Srinagar.
After a slow start in the morning, polling picked up in all constituencies in the Kashmir valley as the day advanced.
The newly created Shri Mata Vaishnodevi constituency recorded the highest polling of 75.29%.
The constituencies along the LOC in the Jammu region, Mendhar (ST), Poonch Haveli, and Surankote (ST) saw a 69.67%, 72.71%, and 72.18% turnout of voters respectively. The Gulabgarh (ST) constituency in the Reasi district recorded 72.19% polling till 5 pm.
However, polling in Srinagar’s downtown constituencies, Habbakadal and Khanyar was low at 15.8% and 24%, respectively.
The polling in the other constituencies of the Srinagar district was also low with 30.24% in Hazratbal, 30.44% in Lal Chowk, 26.95% in Chhanpora, 28.36% Zadibal, 34.65% in Eidgah and 29.09% in Central Shalteng.
Among the 239 candidates, Omar Abdullah (NC), Tariq Hameed Karra (Congress), Altaf Bukhari (Apni Party) and Ravinder Raina (BJP) are the key contestants.
Special polling stations were set up for Kashmiri migrants.
The polling began in all 3,502 booths at 7 am for the 2nd phase of General Elections to the J&K Legislative Assembly in 26 Assembly Constituencies (ACs) across six districts of Jammu & Kashmir including Ganderbal, Srinagar, and Budgam in Kashmir Division; and Reasi, Rajouri, and Poonch in Jammu Division.
In this phase, 25,78,099 lakh voters were eligible to cast their ballot, comprising 13,12,730 lakh male voters, 12,65,316 lakh female voters, and 53 third-gender voters.