65% polling recorded till 5 pm in J&K's Udhampur LS seat amid rains

An estimated 65 per cent of the total 16.23 lakh registered voters cast their ballot by 5 pm on Friday in the first phase of Lok Sabha elections in Udhampur, officials said, as Jammu and Kashmir witnessed an incident-free polling in what was its first major electoral battle since the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019.

Voting began at 7 am at 2,637 polling stations across the constituency and was scheduled to end at 6 pm, they said, adding there are 12 candidates in the fray.

The voting percentage will go up, with officials saying that compiling data from some polling stations takes time.

Union minister Jitendra Singh, who is eyeing a third term after winning the Udhampur seat for the BJP in 2014 and 2019, is up against Congress leader and former MP Choudhary Lal Singh and the DPAP's G M Saroori, besides six independents.

This is the first major electoral battle in Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370 and the division of the erstwhile state into two Union territories in 2019.