The overall voting percentage in Jammu and Kashmir stood at 45.7 percent in the second phase of Lok Sabha elections on April 18, officials said, reports Grater Kashmir. However, the high-profile Srinagar Lok Sabha segment recorded 14.1 percent voter turnout. 70.2 percent (1169182 votes) polling was recorded in the Udhampur Lok Sabha segment in Jammu Province. “14.1 percent turnout (1,81,843 votes) was recorded in the Srinagar parliamentary segment, which is double than the turnout witnessed during the 2017 bypoll here,” said chief electoral officer Shailendra Kumar.
In the 2014 general election, Srinagar had witnessed a turnout of 25.86 per cent which fell to 7.2 per cent in the 2017 Lok Sabha by-poll. Udhampur had witnessed 70.9 per cent polling in 2014. Kumar said Srinagar District recorded the lowest turnout of 7.69 per cent while Reasi District in Udhampur constituency recorded the highest of 73 per cent among the nine districts where polling was conducted on April 18 in the state.
According to sources, as many as 90 polling booths, mostly in downtown Srinagar, saw no voting on April 18, reports Daily Excelsior. Srinagar constituency had 1,716 polling stations.
Meanwhile, the Director General of Police (DGP) Dilbag Singh on April 18 said that second phase of polling in Kashmir was held peacefully, reports Greater Kashmir. “The polling in Kashmir was peaceful. There were some minor incidents of stone throwing,” Singh said. Hef said the Security Forces (SFs) had been directed to exercise maximum restraint and take extra precautions at the time of their withdrawal from poll-bound areas. “We don’t want people to face any inconvenience,” he added. Singh said that people “came out to vote” and did not pay any heed to “dictates of separatists and other inimical elements”.