J&K polls: 65% polling till 5 pm

Jammu/Srinagar: A voter turnout of 65.48 per cent was recorded till 5 pm in the third and final phase of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections on Tuesday, according to Election Commission data. Polling in the 40 Assembly segments across seven districts of Jammu and Kashmir, including the winter capital Jammu, began at 7 am amid tight security and was scheduled to conclude at 6 pm.

Long queues outside polling stations since early morning marked the enthusiasm among people who voted for the first time in the Assembly elections post the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019. More than 39.18 lakh eligible voters are set to decide the fate of 415 candidates, including two former deputy chief ministers Tara Chand and Muzaffar Baig, and several former ministers and legislators.

Officials said polling was going on peacefully in all segments including special polling stations along the International Border and Line of Control (LoC) with no untoward incident reported from anywhere. A voter turnout of 65.48 per cent was recorded till 5 pm. The polling is scheduled to conclude at 6 pm, the EC said. Udhampur district recorded the highest turnout of 72.91 per cent, followed by Samba (72.41 per cent), Kathua (70.53 per cent), Jammu (66.79 per cent), Bandipora (63.33 per cent), Kupwara (62.76 per cent), and Baramulla (55.73 per cent).

Among the constituencies, Chhamb in Jammu district was leading with 77.35 per cent polling recorded in the first 10 hours. Sopore segment, once a terrorist and separatist stronghold, recorded the lowest turnout of 41.44 % , the EC data showed.