J&K braves cold, separatists to vote in record numbers

Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) recorded 71.28 per cent voter turnout in the first phase of  Assembly elections, while the voting percentage in Jharkhand was 61.92 per cent, the Election Commission (EC) said on Tuesday.

EC officials said polling was peaceful in the 15 of the 87 Assembly constituencies in J&K that voted on Tuesday. People braved bitter cold and defied a poll boycott call given by separatists to vote in large numbers.

Polls took place for 15 seats spread across seven districts, including six seats in the Jammu division, five in the Kashmir Valley and four in Ladakh. The voter turnout in 2008 for these constituencies was 61.23 per cent, EC officials said.

In five Kashmir Valley constituencies, two in Ganderbal district recorded 68 per cent turnout — an increase of 13 per cent from 2008 Assembly polls — while three in Bandipora district recorded 70.30 per cent, registering an increase of 11 per cent. Sonawari constituency in the Kashmir Valley recorded a high turnout of 80.10 per cent.

 

Separatist groups, including all factions of Hurriyat Conference and Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front, have called for a boycott of the polls and a general strike as well in the state, which has been affected by militancy for about 25 years. “Polling has gone off absolutely peacefully without any incident. It was 100 per cent flawless polls and there was not a single incident vitiating the poll process,” deputy election commissioner Vinod Zutshi said, in Delhi.

In Jharkhand, too, the turnout was high in the 13 Naxal-affected constituencies that went to polls on Tuesday. Jharkhand Assembly has 81 seats.

J&K and Jharkhand have a five-phase polling schedule. Polling for the fifth phase is on December 20. Counting of votes is on December 23.

Addressing a rally in Poonch, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi said the Narendra Modi government was being run by big industrialists, adding Rs 6,000-crore loan was facilitated to Adani Group for a project in Australia, but the promise of Rs 1,000-crore aid for flood-hit J&K remained unfulfilled.

“When he (Modi) went to Australia, an industrialist, Adani sahib, accompanied him and the State Bank of India is now giving him Rs 6,000-crore (loan),” he said..