Suhail Dar/ Sheikh Nadeem/ Danishwar Hameed
Large queues of voters, both women and men have turned to the polling booths in south Kashmir’s Anantnag, Kulgam, and parts of Shopian districts to exercise their voting rights.
Voting began at 7 am for this crucial phase of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Over 18.5 Lakh voters, 80,000 of them first-time voters, will be casting their voters to elect a parliamentarian from 20 candidates. Damhal in Kulgam, Kokernag belt in Anantnag, Pahalgam in Anantnag, Thanamandi in Rajouri, Haveli in Poonch are witnessing a brisk polling in the Anantnag-Rajouri seat.
Among those in fray for the seat are Mehbooba Mufti, the former chief Minister of Jammu Kashmir, Mian Altaf Larvi of Jammu Kashmir National Conference among others.
Among the huge crowds of people, the leaders of Jamaat e Islami, Hurriyat were seen casting their votes at polling stations stretched across the southern region of Kashmir.
Live Updates:
10:00 A.M: Mehbooba Mufti, the former chief Minister of Jammu Kashmir has sat on a protest alleging that her party workers were detained and harassed to prevent them from voting.
10:30 A.M: Police denies claims says, only those with “tainted” past have been detained.
10: 35 A.M.: By 9 a.m., the overall voter turnout in the Anantnag-Rajouri constituency was 8.89 percent.
In Anantnag, the turnout was 6.00 percent, while Anantnag West saw a slightly higher turnout of 6.79 percent. Budhal (ST) recorded a turnout of 10.81 percent. Both DH Pora and Rajouri (ST) reported turnouts of 9.00 percent each. Devsar witnessed a turnout of 8.11 percent, while Dooru and Shangus – Anantnag East recorded turnouts of 8.40 percent and 7.03 percent, respectively. Kokernag (ST) and Pahalgam both saw substantial turnouts of 10.31 percent and 10.98 percent, respectively. The highest turnout so far has been in Nowshera at 12.52 percent, followed closely by Poonch Haveli at 11.98 percent, and Mendhar at 11.10 percent. Kulgam recorded a turnout of 5.31 percent.
10:40 A.M: Apni Party alleges that its workers have been detained too.
11:A.M.: NC alleges its workers detained, agents thrown out of polling booths. “We have received several complaints that our workers have been detained in Anantnag. There are also reports of EVMs in Damhal Hanjpora where our agents have also been thrown out of polling stations,” Mian Altaf Larvi.
11:20 A.M: Voting percentage reaches 23.11 percent at 11 A.M. The respective polling for the assembly segments stand at:
Anantnag – 13.80 %, Anantnag west – 16.18 %, Budhal (ST) – 26.14 %, DH Pora – 22.00 %, Devsar – 18.70 %, Dooru – 20.85 %, Kokernag (ST) – 25.27 %, Kulgam – 13.94 %, Mendhar – 28.00 %, Nowshera – 30.29 %, Pahalgam – 26.68 %, Poonch Haveli – 30.89 %, Rajouri (ST) – 34.63 %, Shangus – Anantnag East – 16.99 %, Srigufawara – Bijbehara – 18.00 %, Surankot (ST) – 24.62 %, Thanna Mandi (ST) – 29.92 %, Zainapora – 19.30 %
1:20 P.M: In the three assembly segments of Kulgam, the total percentage at 1 p.m stands at 26.09 per cent; Kulgam 21.27 per cent, Devser 28 % and DH pora 29.00 per cent.
1:30 P.M: Scuffle between two groups in Poonch’s Shahpur area leaves four injured.
1:35 P.M: 60-year-old man identified as Mohammed Iqbal, resident of Kalla Mohalla Nerojal, Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri dies while casting his vote.
2:10 P.M: Anantnag-Rajouri constituency registered a voter turnout of over 35 percent till 1 pm.
5:43 P.M: As per the election commission at 5.P.M, the voter turnout for Anantnag-Rajouri seat stands at 51.88%
The percentage segment wise stands as:Anantnag – 31.21 %, Anantnag west – 34.65 % , Budhal (ST) – 64.91 %, DH Pora – 55.00 %, Devsar – 41.50 %, Dooru – 45.21 %, Kokernag (ST) – 50.00 %, Kulgam – 31.99 %, Mendhar – 64.69 %, Nowshera – 65.47 %, Pahalgam – 55.63 %, Poonch Haveli – 64.19 %, Rajouri (ST) – 66.09 %, Shangus – Anantnag East – 41.94 %, Srigufawara – Bijbehara – 42.40 %, Surankot (ST) – 62.65 %, hanna Mandi (ST) – 65.34 %, Zainapora – 39.40 %.