Over 59 per cent of 17.37 lakh voters exercised their franchise during fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections in Baramulla on Monday. In the Union Territory of Ladakh, over 67 per cent of voting had been recorded till 5 pm and election officials said that it was likely to cross 75 per cent by 6 pm.
In Baramulla, it was an all time record breaking performance, as this percentage is higher than ever before. It was in 1996 that Baramullah had recorded 47 per cent voting and only 28 per cent in 1999. In 2014, it was 39 per cent; in 2009, it was 42 per cent; in 2004 it was 36 per cent; in 1999 it was only 28 per cent and in 1998 it stood at 42 per cent.
By 5 pm, the Baramulla Lok Sabha seat had recorded over 55 per cent voting, 20 per cent higher than that of 2019. In fact, the voting percentage recorded in the first four hours till 11 am was more than 34 per cent. “The people of Baramulla have made history today with the highest poll percentage recorded in the segment,’’ Chief Electoral Officer P K Pole said while talking to reporters. The Handwara assembly segment recorded an impressive turnout of 67.5 per cent of voters, he added.
The enthusiastic participation of voters in the poll process was earlier witnessed in the Kashmir valley in the 4th phase of polling in Srinagar constituency also. In Baramulla, Omar Abdullah of the National Conference is facing challenge from Sajjad Lone of the People’s Conference, along with independent candidate Engineer Rashid and PDP candidate Mohammad Fayaz Mir. Engineer Rashid, presently in Tihar jail, and Mir were MLAs in the Legislative Assembly that was dissolved in late 2018.
There were 18 polling booths managed by women (also called as pink polling stations), 17 polling booths were manned by specially abled persons and 18 by youths. There were also 21 green polling stations set up to spread messages about environment. During the campaigning, election officers permitted 1,859 applications moved for organising rallies, meetings and roadshows and rejected 300 such applications.
In Union Territory (UT) of Ladakh, a little over 67 per cent polling was recorded on Monday to decide the fate of three candidates in the fray for the lone Lok Sabha seat in the Union Territory (UT). The vast Ladakh region is spread over an area of over 59,000 square kilometres and is the largest parliamentary constituency area-wise in the entire country and covers Buddhist-dominated Leh and Shia-dominated Kargil districts.
In 2019 Lok Sabha election, Ladakh had recorded a little over 71 per cent voting and BJP candidate JT Namgyal had emerged winner. He is not contesting the election this time as the BJP has given its ticket to Tashi Gyalson and the Congress to Tsering Namgyal.
Only three candidates are contesting the Ladakh Lok Sabha seat of which two are Buddhists from Leh district while the lone independent candidate Mohammad Haneefa Jan hails from Kargil district. The Ladakh Lok Sabha seat was won by the BJP in 2014 as also 2019 but independent candidates have also won it a number of times in the past.
The victory margin in the Ladakh Lok Sabha seat is often in thousands only as there are only 1.84 lakh voters in all, with 95,926 in Kargil and 88,877 in Leh. The polling in Kargil at 72 per cent was higher than in Leh district which recorded 62.5 per cent.
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