Over 26% polling in Jammu LS seat in first 4 hours

More than 26 per cent voter turnout was recorded in the first four hours of polling in Jammu constituency in the second phase of the Lok Sabha elections on Friday, officials said.

Voting began at 7 am in the 2,416 polling stations in the constituency and is going on peacefully, Jammu and Kashmir election officials said.

They added that 26.61 per cent votes were polled till 11 am. There are more than 17.80 lakh eligible voters in the constituency.

Electors are casting their votes to decide the fate of 22 candidates, including sitting MP Jugal Kishore Sharma, who is eyeing a third term after winning the seat for the BJP in 2014 and 2019. The INDIA bloc has fielded Jammu and Kashmir Congress working president Raman Bhalla.

The Lok Sabha poll is the first major electoral battle in Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370 and the bifurcation of the erstwhile state into Union Territories -- Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh -- on August 5, 2019.

The highest voter turnout (33.79 per cent) was recorded in Jammu Lok Sabha constituency's Reasi assembly segment till 11 am, the officials said.

Jammu recorded a voter turnout of 74 per cent in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.