Over 46% turnout in J&K till 3 p.m., polling peaceful (3rd Lead)

Over 46 per cent voting was recorded in Jammu and Kashmir's two Lok Sabha constituencies of Jammu and Baramulla till 3 p.m. on Thursday during a generally peaceful poll process save an incident of stone-pelting that left a woman injured.

"An overall voter turnout of 46.3 per cent was recorded in the two constituencies," an official said.

The official said in the Jammu Lok Sabha seat, 58.7 per cent voters had exercised their franchise but in Baramulla, only 27.3 per cent voters turned out till 3 p.m.

The poll process, especially in Baramulla constituency in the Kashmir Valley, remained generally peaceful except for a stray incident in Palhalan area of Baramulla district where a woman was injured when some youth pelted stones to disrupt the poll process.

Very low voter turnout was recorded in Sopore and Baramulla towns and a few other places where the separatist-called boycott appeal adversely affected the voter turnout.

The election is taking place with heavy deployment of security forces in Baramulla constituency, which spans Baramulla, Kupwara and Bandipora districts.

Polling started in Jammu and Baramulla at 7 a.m. While queues of enthusiastic voters were seen in rural and border areas of Jammu Lok Sabha seat, polling was relatively muted in Baramulla.

However, reports of voters turning out in good numbers have come in from the border areas of Gurez, Karnah and Uri in Baramulla, while small queues were also seen in Sonawari, Shadipora and a few other places in the morning.

The main electoral battle in the Jammu Lok Sabha seat is between the BJP's Jugal Kishore Sharma and Raman Bhalla of the Congress, while in Baramulla, it is likely to be four-cornered between Muhammad Akbar Lone of the National Conference, Raja Aijaz Ali of the Peoples Conference, Abdul Qayoom Wani of the Peoples Democratic Party and Independent candidate, Engineer Rashid.

Voting will end at 6 p.m. and counting of votes will be taken up on May 23.

--IANS

sq/vd