Jammu and Kashmir elections: 10 percent polling in first two hours

Srinagar: Nearly 10 percent of the voters cast their votes in the first two hours of polling in the fourth phase of elections for 18 seats in Jammu and Kashmir today."The overall polling percentage till 10 AM for the 16 constituencies of Kashmir Valley is around 10 percent, while over 13 percent electorate exercised their franchise in Samba and Vijaypur constituencies of Jammu region," the officials said.They said the turnout in Samba was 13.56 percent while in Vijaypur, it was 12.71 percent.Despite severe cold, people were seen going towards the polling booths and long queues of voters were seen outside the polling stations to exercise their franchise, the officials said.The trends in voter turnout in eight constituencies of Srinagar city, which have witnessed low voter turnout in the past elections due to separatist boycott calls, pointed towards a higher poll percentage this time.[caption id="attachment_1822401" align="alignleft" width="380"]

Jammu and Kashmir residents gather to vote outside a polling booth, while a security official stands on guard. PTI[/caption]Sonawar constituency, where Chief Minister Omar Abdullah is contesting, witnessed the highest 9.24 turnout during the first two hours of polling, while Khanyar constituency in the city recorded 8.13 percent turnout during the corresponding period.Zadibal, Amirakadal, Eidgah and Hazratbal constituencies witnessed slightly over 7 percent turnout each, while Batmaloo and Habbakadal constituencies of the city saw 6.24 percent and 4.73 percent turnout till 10 AM, respectively.Anantnag constituency in south Kashmir, where PDP patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed is a candidate, saw 7.90 percent of the electorate cast their votes in the first two hours.Pahalgam and Shangus segments in Anatnag district recorded brisk polling at 14.91 percent and 14.93 percent respectively while Shopian and Wachi seats also saw a healthy turnout of 10.68 percent and 8.43 percent respectively.Police officials said the voting across the 16 constituencies of the Valley spread over three districts was going on peacefully with no untoward incident reported so far.Stringent security arrangements have been put in place to ensure incident-free polling across the Valley, the officials said.PTI