Amitha Reji George, Pune
On Wednesday, 24 out of the 90 Assembly constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir (eight in Jammu and sixteen in the province of Kashmir) cast votes in the first phase of the elections. It has been ten years since the abrogation of Article 370 that the state has held an election.
According to officials, approximately 58.19% of voters cast votes in the 24 assembly constituencies till 5 p.m. They added that of the 24 constituencies in the UT, Inderwal had the highest voting percentage (80.06%), followed by Padder-Nagseni (76.80%), Kishtwar (75.04%), and Doda West (74.14%).
With a turnout of 67.86%, the Pahalgam sector had the highest turnout in the Kashmir valley. This was followed by D.H. Pora (65.21%), Kulgam (59.58%), Kokernag (58%), and Dooru (57.90%).
40.58% was the lowest voter turnout percentage in the Tral sector. The four constituencies in the Pulwama district have not reached the 50% limit, they continued.
According to the Election Commission, voting has so far taken place in a calm and incident-free manner. J&K Chief Electoral Officer P. K. Pole said that polling is being conducted on a large scale. In the first phase, more than 23.27 lakh voters (11.76 lakh men and 11.51 lakh women) were eligible to cast their votes.
Phase two, which will involve 26 seats, is on September 25. Phase three, which will involve 40 seats, is scheduled for October 5.
In Kashmir, Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami of the CPI (M) is running for a sixth term in a row from the Kulgam constituency. Sakina Itoo of the National Conference is seeking another term from Damhal Hajipora, while Ghulam Ahmad Mir, the general secretary of the AICC, aims for a third term from Dooru. All eyes are on the assembly segments of Srigufwara-Bijbehara and Pulwama, where PDP candidates Waheed Para and Iltija Mufti are contesting, respectively.
In the 2014 elections, which was held in five phases in the unified Jammu and Kashmir, Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party (JKPDP) won 28 seats, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 25 seats, the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC) which won 15 seats, and the Congress won 12.