Braving bullets 58% cast ballot in Jammu and Kashmir, 61% voting in Jharkhand in third phase of elections

61% polling was observed in Jharkhand in the third phase of five-phase elections on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir saw 58% polling.

A 50,16,657-strong electorate, including 23,55,728 women, were eligible to exercise their franchise to choose among 289 candidates, including 26 women.

Security forces kept a close watch in the Maoist-affected areas where 1,957 booths have been marked as highly sensitive and 1,477 as sensitive booths. However, no real untoward incidents took place.

Latest Updates:

18:45 IST Tuesday, 9 December 2014

The third phase of Jharkhand polls ended with 61% of the eligible electorate voting. In Jammu and Kashmir, 58% polling was observed.

15:32 IST Tuesday, 9 December 2014

46% voting in Jharkhand till 1 pm; 27% in Jammu and Kashmir till 12 noon

13:18 IST Tuesday, 9 December 2014

Moderate polling in Jharkhand, about 30 pc turnout till 11 am

Moderate polling has been recorded in the first four hours of voting in 17 Assembly constituencies spread across eight districts of Jharkhand with about 30 per cent of the electorate exercising their franchise. Polling has been incident-free so far, barring protest by villagers in three booths of Simaria constituency for about 15 minutes demanding basic amenities such as water, road and electricity, officials said.

The villagers in booth numbers 147,148 and 149, however, exercised their franchise soon after the district officials assured to look into their grievances, the officials said.
Jharkhand Governor Syed Ahmed and Chief Minister Hemant Soren cast their votes for Ranchi and Hatia assembly segments.

13:02 IST Tuesday, 9 December 2014

Petrol bomb hurled at polling station in Baramulla in Srinagar

A petrol bomb was on Tuesday hurled by unidentified men at a polling station in Gulmarg constituency of Baramulla district, where polling is underway. A petrol bomb was hurled at a booth in the early hours today. No casualties were reported in the incident, police said. Read more

11:19 IST Tuesday, 9 December 2014

Jharkhand assembly polls: Nearly 13% polling till 9 am

Amid tight security, nearly 13% of the electorate exercised their franchise in the first two hours of polling in 17 constituencies spread across eight districts of Jharkhand on Tuesday. While Koderma recorded the maximum 16.90 per cent voting in the first two hours, Barkagaon constituency witnessed the minimum at 7.60%, polling officials said. Some faulty EVMs were immediately replaced on receiving complaints from a few polling booths, they said. Read more

3rd phase of polling begins in J&K, voters line up outside a polling station in Pulwama pic.twitter.com/fzaebYmYLy

— ANI (@ANI_news) December 9, 2014

Prime Minister Narendra Modi urges people to vote on a large scale

Urging all those voting today, in Phase 3 of the Assembly elections in J&K and Jharkhand, to turnout in record numbers & cast their vote.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 9, 2014

Jammu and Kashmir

The stakes are high for Peoples Democratic Party as it held nine of the sixteen Assembly constituencies which have an electorate of 13.69 lakh electors, including 6.51 lakh women.

A total of 144 candidates are in the fray including the Chief Minister, three of his cabinet colleagues and 10 other sitting MLAs. 1,781 polling stations have been set up in the area.

Omar, who chose to contest from Beerwah in Budgam instead of his family bastion of Ganderbal, hopes that some of the recent steps taken by his government for the area will help him sail through the electoral tide from a constituency which was won by PDP candidates in the last two elections.

Among many decisions, the Omar government did not extend the lease to the Army for using Tosamaidan meadows, falling in the Beerwah constituency, as a firing practice range following widespread opposition from the locals. He also ensured that the Army cleared the area of the littered shells, which had claimed more than 60 lives in the past two decades.

NC working president Omar, who is also contesting from the Sonawar Assembly seat, was given a rousing welcome when he filed his nomination papers from this constituency last month.

Omar, who is seeking a second term in the Assembly, faces a stiff challenge from sitting PDP MLA Mohammad Shafi Wani and Congress nominee Nazir Ahmad Khan, whose father Sarfaraz Khan had won from Beerwah in 2002 elections as a PDP candidate.

PDP represents nine of the 16 seats while the ruling NC holds only four. Congress and Peoples Democratic Front won one seat each in the last polls while one seat went to Independent.

While PDP has re-nominated six sitting MLAs including Wani, it has fielded fresh faces in three other seats won by it in the 2008 Assembly elections. 

Jharkhand

Marandi, who became the first chief minister of the state after resigning from the erstwhile Atal Bihari Vajpayee council of ministers on November 15, 2000, is locked in a tight contest at Dhanwar constituency which was won by his Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) candidate Nizzamudin Ansari in the 2009 Assembly elections.

Ansari filed nomination on a JMM ticket but his papers were invalid following his conviction in a murder case.

Eight MLAs are seeking re-elections in this phase, having 103 independent candidates out of a total of 289, including 26 women.

The constituencies going to the poll are: Kodarma, Barkatha, Barhi, Barkagaon, Ramgarh, Mandu, Hazaribagh, Simaria (SC), Dhanwar, Gomia, Bermo, Ichagarh, Silli, Khijri (ST), Ranchi, Hatia and Kanke (SC).

They are spread over eight districts - Ranchi, Hazaribagh, Bokaro, Chatra, Seraikella/Kharsawan, Ramgarh, Kodarma and Giridih. 

(With agency inputs)