Voter turnout dips to 10.32 percent in the fourth phase in Kashmir

Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) J&K, Shailendra Kumar said overall percentage recorded in the district was 10.3 per cent with the highest turnout recorded in Noorabad segment at 20.58 per cent.

dna Correspondent

Updated : Apr 30, 2019, 05:45 AM IST

Voter turnout dips to 10.32 percent in the fourth phase in Kashmir

A security official helps an elderly Kashmiri voter after he casted his vote at a polling station in Kulgam district of Kashmir

Signs of poll boycott was quite visible on Monday when turnout dipped to the lowest level in the fourth-phase of Jammu and Kashmir Lok Sabha polls. Around 10.32 per cent voter turnout was recorded in the second phase of polling in Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency. It is for the first time in the electoral history, the single Lok Sabha constituency of Anantnag is being held in three phases given the high infestation of militants and precarious law and order situation

Four assembly segments of Kulgam district went to the polls in the second phase amid tight security. Spread over four districts of South Kashmir –Anantnag, Kulgam, Pulwama and Shopian --Anantnag LS constituency with an electorate of 13.97 lakh comprise of the 16 assembly segments.

Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) J&K, Shailendra Kumar said overall percentage recorded in the district was 10.3 per cent with the highest turnout recorded in Noorabad segment at 20.58 per cent.

"The total number of votes polled was 35,524 with highest turnout of 20.58 per cent recorded in Noorabad segment of the district. With the completion of the fourth phase, the overall poll percentage of Anantnag constituency has touched 12.35 per cent," he said.

Stone pelting rocked at different places when youth clashed with the security forces in different parts of the district. CEO however said there was incident-free voting in the second leg of three-phase polling for south Kashmir's Anantnag Parliamentary constituency

CEO noted that overall percentage of voting till date in four constituencies --Baramulla, Jammu, Srinagar, Udhampur and Anantnag --was recorded at 47.06 per cent with total votes polled at around 3364104 out of 7149047 total electorates.

Hundreds of additional companies of paramilitary forces were deployed to maintain order and ensure peaceful polling in the first phase of Lok Sabha (LS) polls. Mobile internet was suspended in the constituency as a precautionary measure while the district observed shutdown on the call of separatists.

South Kashmir is home to majority of the terrorists including chief of Hizbul Mujhadeen Riyaz Naikoo in the valley. Plus the Pulwama suicide bombing on CRPF convoy that left 40 troopers dead also falls in the same constituency.
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) President and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti is among 18 candidates trying their luck from Anantnag constituency.

National Conference has fielded former High Court Judge Justice Hasnain Masoodi --who in 2015 ruled that Article 370 of the constitution cannot be abrogated, repealed or even amended—while Congress has fielded its state president GA Mir, who lost Dooru assembly constituency to Mehbooba's uncle in 2014, to take on the PDP president.