J&K polls LIVE: Voting concludes in Phase 1; 59% voter turnout recorded

Voting in the first phase of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly polls concluded on Wednesday (September 18). About 59 per cent voter turnout was recorded, Chief Electoral Officer P K Pole said

He said polling passed off peacefully. Voting began at 7 am amid tight security arrangements.

However, he said the figures are tentative and there might be a fractional increase after the final reports are received from the remote pockets and postal ballots.

The first phase of polls covered 24 seats across seven districts.

Briefing media persons in Jammu after polling ended at 6 pm, Pole said the elections ended peacefully without any untoward incident.

There are reports of some minor incidents of scuffle or argument from a few polling stations but "no serious incident" occurred that could have forced a repoll, he said.

"The polling percentage of 59 percent is highest in the past seven elections – four Lok Sabha polls and three assembly elections," he said, attributing the increase in the voter turnout to various factors including improved security situation, active participation of political parties and candidates and a campaign by the department.

Highest voting in Inderwal

They said the highest voting percentage so far among the 24 Assembly segments of the Union territory was recorded in Inderwal at 80.06 per cent, followed by Padder-Nagseni at 76.80 per cent and Kishtwar at 75.04 per cent.

Doda West also recorded a high turnout of 74.14 per cent during the period.

In the Kashmir valley, the Pahalgam segment recorded the highest turnout of 67.86 per cent. It was followed by D H Pora at 65.21 per cent, Kulgam at 59.58, Kokernag at 58 per cent and Dooru at 57.90 per cent.

The lowest – 40.58 per cent – was recorded in the Tral segment, they said, adding that the four constituencies in Pulwama district have not yet crossed the 50 per cent mark.

The polls were held for the first time since the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019.

Brisk voting

Earlier, long queues were witnessed outside several booths even before the voting began at 7 am, officials said.

They said the voting gathered pace and queues got longer after the first hour as the morning breeze gave way to sunshine.

The voters said the people of Jammu and Kashmir were getting a chance to elect their assembly members after a long time and they were making the most of this opportunity.

"Today is a festival of democracy. We are electing our representatives after 10 years. A democratically elected government is better than other governments," Bashir Ahmad from Kulgam, said.

23 lakh voters, 219 candidates

Over 23 lakh voters will decide the fate of 219 candidates, including 90 Independents, who are running for 24 assembly segments -- eight in three districts of Jammu region and 16 in four districts of Kashmir valley.

The officials said a total of 14,000 polling staff oversaw the process at 3,276 polling stations.

Key candidates

Prominent candidates in Kashmir whose fate will be sealed on Wednesday include CPI (M)'s Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami, AICC general secretary Ghulam Ahmad Mir, National Conference's Sakina Itoo, and PDP's Sartaj Madni and Abdul Rehman Veeri.

PDP's Iltija Mufti, contesting from Srigufwara-Bijbehara, and the party's youth leader Waheed Para, from Pulwama, are also the contenders to watch for in the first phase.

In Jammu, trying their luck are former ministers Sajjad Kitchloo (NC), Khalid Najib Suharwardy (NC) Vikar Rasool Wani (Congress), Abdul Majid Wani (DPAP), Sunil Sharma (BJP), Shakti Raj Parihar (Doda west), and Ghulam Mohammad Saroori, a three-time MLA who is fighting as an Independent after he was denied ticket by DPAP which he had joined after quitting Congress in support of Ghulam Nabi Azad two years ago.

Former MLA Daleep Singh Parihar (BJP), former MLC Firdous Tak and Imtiyaz Shan (PDP), NC's Pooja Thakur, the sitting chairperson of district development council Kishtwar, BJP's young face Shagun Parihar, whose father Ajit Parihar and uncle Anil Parihar were killed by terrorists in November 2018, and Mehraj din Malik of AAP are among other prominent faces in the fray.

The other two phases will be held on September 25 and October 1, while the votes will be counted on October 8.

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