Less than 3% voting in J&K's Anantnag (9 a.m.)

Less than 3 per cent voter turnout was recorded till 9 a.m. on Monday in the second phase of polls in Jammu and Kashmir's Anantnag Lok Sabha seat, an election official said.

Voting began at 7 a.m. in Kulgam district's four assembly segments -- Noorabad, Devsar, Kulgam and Homshalibugh.

At the Laram polling station in Homshalibugh, voting was delayed for 40 minutes due to a faulty Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) which poll authorities said was being replaced.

A total of 433 polling stations have been set up at 244 locations.

There are 3,45,486 voters in the district. Twenty-one polling stations have been set up for over 3,000 migrants voters in Udhampur, Jammu and Delhi.

As a precautionary measure, mobile Internet services have been suspended in the south Kashmir areas.

Train services between Baramulla and Banihal have also been cancelled for the day.

There are 18 candidates in the fray in this constituency, but the main contest is between Mehbooba Mufti of the People's Democratic Party (PDP), Ghulam Ahmad Mir of Congress and Justice (Retired) Hasnain Masoodi of the National Conference (NC).

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded Sofi Yusuf and the People's Conference (PC), Choudhary Zafar Ali. In addition, there is a lone woman candidate, Ridwana Sanam who is contesting as an Independent.

For the first time in the electoral history of the state, a non-local, Shams Khwaja, a lawyer from Uttar Pradesh is also in the fray.

Voting will end at 4 p.m.

--IANS

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