The Diplomat Desk
Srinagar (TDD): Jammu and Kashmir’s Chief Electoral Officer P K Pole Wednesday said that the phase-2 of the Assembly elections held in the UT recorded 54.11 per cent voting.
The figures are, however, seven per cent less than the phase one that saw 61.38 per cent voting on September 18.
Addressing a press conference here, the CEO said that the phase two has recorded 54.11 per cent voting till 7 pm while voting at some polling stations was still underway. “The figure may change slightly,” he said.
He said voting across 26 Assembly Constituencies which commenced at 7 AM today was held peacefully without any incidents of violence. “The overall voter turnout recorded in these six districts that went for polls in Phase 2 have also surpassed the turnout recorded in Lok Sabha Elections 2024. Phase-1 of the Jammu-Kashmir Assembly elections had also witnessed an encouraging response by voters with a voter turnout of 61.38% at Polling Station across 24 ACs,” Pole said.
Reading out the press note issued by the Election Commission of India (ECI), Pole said voters queued up at polling stations in second phase while as CEC Rajiv Kumar along with ECs Gyanesh Kumar and Dr. Sukhbir Singh Sandhu had maintained a constant supervision of the polling process to ensure that the polling took place in an incident free manner.
“In Jammu-Kashmir, 26 Assembly Constituencies, spread across 6 districts saw polling across 3502 Polling Stations set up for voters in this phase. 239 Candidates were in the fray including 233 men and 6 women candidates in this phase of the elections. The six districts that went to polls in phase 2 are – Budgam, Ganderbal, Poonch, Rajouri, Reasi and Srinagar. Young voters reflected the aspirations of peace, democracy and progress as first time voters proudly showcased their inked fingers after voting,” Pole said, adding that Mata Vaishno Devi seat recorded the highest voting percentage in Jammu region at over 75 percent, while as Habba Kadal recorded lowest turnout at 15 per cent.
“Budgam recorded 58.97, Ganderbal 58.81, Poonch 71.59, Rajouri 68.22, Reasi 71.81, Srinagar 27.37,” Pole said. About the foreign delegation’s visit, the CEO said the diplomats visited four polling stations and expressed their full satisfaction over the polling process and the preparations in place. (TDD)