Turnout in J&K polls' final phase maintains momentum as enthusiastic voters throng booths, crosses 44.08 pc

Jammu/Srinagar, Oct 1 (IANS) Electors, spanning first-timers to the elderly, thronged polling booths in 40 Assembly constituencies across Jammu and Kashmir that went to vote on Tuesday in the third and final phase of the peaceful polls, with turnout estimated at 44.08 per cent as of 1 p.m.

In the first and second phases of the J&K Assembly polls, nearly 62 per cent and 58 per cent voter turnout, respectively, was recorded.

The present turnout in the third phase, where women voters also came out early to exercise their franchise, indicates the overall voting figures could exceed those seen in the first and second phases.

Voting started at 7 a.m. at all the 5,060 polling stations with a bright autumn sun greeting voters when they started pouring out to exercise their democratic right. Of these, 1,842 polling stations, managed by over 8,000 polling staff, were set up in the Baramulla, Kupwara, and Bandipora districts in the Kashmir Valley, while 3,218 polling stations were set up in Jammu, Samba, Kathua and Udhampur districts of Jammu division. Voters were seen wearing woollens at most places in the Valley districts while in the Jammu division, voters still wore summer attire.

Special polling stations have been set up for Kashmiri migrant voters - 11 in Jammu, four in Delhi, and one in Udhampur district.

Men started building queues at the polling stations in Pattan, Sangrama, Kreeri, Tangmarg, Kunzar, Uri town and other places in the Valley while voters wearing traditional Dogri dresses came out in a festive mood in Kathua, Samba, Udhampur, R.S.Pura and other polling stations in Jammu division. Enthusiasm was unmatched among the voters in areas close to the international border in Samba, Kathua and Jammu districts as they exchanged greetings with the security forces guarding the polling stations.

Special arrangements were made for old, sick, and infirm voters.

The highest turnout, so far, was in the Bani Assembly seat of Kathua, at 52.96 per cent, while the lowest was in Sopore, in Baramulla, at 27.76 per cent. The highest turnout recorded in the Kashmir Valley was 52.45 per cent in the Gurez (ST) seat in Bandipora.

Among the voters were a 106-year-old wheelchair-bound woman in Ramgarh (SC) seat in Samba, 102-year-old Kesar Devi in Udhampur, a nonagenarian Kashmiri Pandit casting his vote in a special polling station for migrants in the Jagti migrant camp in Jammu, 97-year-old Sardar Gurcharan Singh in Ramgharh (SC), 93-year-old Ashwani Kumar in Basohli seat in Kathua, 83-year-old Krishna Devi in Jammu, as well as first-time voters like teenagers Sanchita Kapoor in Basohli and Diya Hans in Samba.

Interestingly, no one came out to cast votes at the Kanyari Ghat polling station of the Sonawari Assembly constituency in Bandipora. Voters gathered in large numbers some distance away from the polling station saying that nobody has paid any attention to civic amenities in the area including safe drinking water, roads, electricity and other related issues. Deputy Commissioner, Bandipora was persuading the voters to cast their ballots. Voters said they wanted complete assurance from the authorities to attend to their problems before they entered the polling station.

In the third and final phase, 39.18 lakh voters were eligible to decide the political fate of 415 candidates in 11 constituencies in the Jammu district, three in Samba, six in Kathua, and four in Udhampur, while Baramulla has seven seats, Kupwara has six and Bandipora has three.

Police officials said that an adequate number of security personnel drawn from the CRPF and J&K Police has been deployed for smooth polling. Area domination around polling stations, securing to and fro passage of poll staff and the general public on the roads and highways was done on Monday itself and deployments moved out with the first light on Tuesday to secure passage of sector officers, poll observers, candidates and other officials connected with the poll process.

Polling will end at 6 p.m. while counting of votes will be taken up on October 8.