Incident-free voting marked the second leg of three-phase polling for south Kashmir’s Anantnag Parliamentary constituency of Kulgam district with a total voter turnout of 10.32 per cent, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) J&K, Shailendra Kumar informed on Monday.Addressing a press conference at Banquet Hall in Srinagar, the CEO informed that the overall percentage recorded in the district during today’s polling was 10.3 per cent with the highest in Noorabad segment, recording at 20.58 per cent.He said that for the smooth polling across the district, 433 polling stations were set up out of which 20 were model polling stations. Moreover 4 all women polling stations were also setup across the district.Divulging the details of the voter turnout in the district, the CEO informed that the total number of votes polled was 35524 with highest turnout of 20.58 per cent recorded in Noorabad segment of the district. With the completion of the today’s phase, the overall poll percentage of Anantnag constituency has touched 12.35 per cent.He further elaborated that the total percentage of voting till date in various parliamentary constituencies in the state including Baramulla, Jammu, Srinagar, Udhampur and Anantnag was recorded at 47.06 per cent with total votes polled at around 3364104 out of 7149047 total electorates.
The CEO complimented voters, political parties, contesting candidates, media, polling staff and security forces for smooth and peaceful conduct of polling under IV Phases in the state.It may be recalled, over 3.45 lakh electors were scheduled to exercise their franchise in Kulgam district of south Kashmir region, in the second leg of three-phased schedule for Anantnag Parliamentary Constituency on April 29, including 28761 first-time voters and 2870 migrant voters. Regarding the health of E-rolls, the CEO said that 43 polling stations were setup for webcasting. Pertinently the candidates in the fray are Hasnain Masoodi of Jammu Kashmir National Conference, Sofi Yousuf of Bhartiya Janta Party, Ghulam Ahmad Mir of Indian National Congress, Mehbooba Mufti of Jammu Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party, Nisar Ahmad Wani of Jammu & Kashmir National Panthers Party, Choudhary Zaffar Ali of Jammu Kashmir Peoples Conference, Sanjay Kumar Dhar of Manav Adhikar Party, Surinder Singh of Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) and Imtiyaz Ahmad Rather, Ridwana Sanam, Riyaz Ahmad Bhat, Zubair Masoodi, Shams Khwaja, Ali Mohammad Wani, Gh Mohammad Wani, Kyasir Ahmed Sheikh, Manzoor Ahmad Khan and Mirza Sajad Hussain Beigh, all independents.The CEO informed that two general observers, one expenditure observer, one police observer, 68 micro observers besides 1732 polling staff ensured the smooth conduct of the voting in this phase.