27% voters exercise franchise till noon in J&K

CM Omar Abdullah and three of his cabinet colleagues are among 144 candidates whose fate will be decided today

Ignoring calls for poll boycott and braving the cold weather, over 27% of the electorate today exercised their franchise till noon in 16 constituencies of Jammu and Kashmir.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and three of his cabinet colleagues are among 144 candidates whose fate will be decided in the third phase of polling today in the 16 seats spread across Budgam, Pulwama and Baramulla districts.

At many places, voters lined up at polling stations much before the start of the voting time at 8 a.m.

Over 27% voters exercised their franchise till noon, poll officials said.

While Beerwah in Budgam district witnessed 29.47% of the voters casting their ballot, Sopore registered 15% voting, the officials said.

Uri saw 37% of the electorate exercising their franchise, Rafiabad 32% while Gulmarg saw over 30% voters casting their ballot. Chadoora recorded 33.49%, Budgam 32.35%, Khan Sahib 31.4%, Charari Sharief 37.60%, Tral 17.46%, Pampore 24.45%, Pulwama 19.14 and Rajpora 25.18%, the officials said.

Police said a petrol bomb was hurled by unidentified men at a polling station in Gulmarg constituency. No casualties were reported in the incident.

Barring this incident, polling across all 16 constituencies of the state, was going on peacefully.

Security arrangements in all the three districts have been strengthened in the wake of Friday's violence in which 21 persons including 11 security personnel and eight militants were killed in four incidents in the Valley.