Srinagar: The polling turnout remained paltry in the first four hours of the voting in phase-II of the municipal elections in Srinagar, Baramulla, Kupwara, Bandipora, Anantnag and Budgam districts in Kashmir Valley.
According to an official handout, Anantnag saw the lowest 0.6% voting followed by 0.8% in Srinagar, 1.1% in Baramulla (same as at 8 a.m.), 3.1 % in Kupwara and 14.2% in Bandipora.
Similarly, in first four hours, Kishtwar recorded voting percentage of 34.1%, Doda had 36.5%,Ramban 35.a%, Reasi witnessed 35.7%, Udhampur 30.2% while Kathua recorded highest poll percentage of 39.4%.
In a desperate bid to increase voter participation in the Valley, the authorities reduced commencement of voting process by one hour, starting it at 6 a.m. The voting will end at 4 p.m.
Polling in the second of the four-phase municipal polls in Jammu and Kashmir cover 384 wards in 11 districts.
Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), J&K, Shaleen Kabra last evening said that in the 2nd Phase of Municipal Polls-2018 voting will take place at 544 polling stations across the State.
He said 270 polling stations have been designated for voting in Kashmir Division and 274 in Jammu Division.
The CEO said 1029 candidates are in the fray for 263 Municipal Wards including 49 in Kashmir and 214 in Jammu, going to polls in Phase-II. He said 881 candidates are in the fray in Jammu division and 148 in Kashmir division.
“In the areas going to polls, the total electorate is 346980, with 128104 in Jammu Division belonging to 18 Municipal bodies and 218876 in Kashmir Division of 5 Municipal bodies,” he said and added that Additional poll staff is also being deployed at the polling stations with larger number of electors.
Pertinently, Municipal Elections-2018 are being held in four phases, covering 79 municipal bodies with an electorate of about 17 lakh. A total of 3372 nominations have been filed for 1145 wards. Days of poll are 8th, 10th, 13th and 16th October for these four phases.
