Voting for the third and final phase of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections took place on Tuesday, with 40 out of the 90 seats in the Union territory going to polls.
These were the first Assembly elections in the Union territory since the abrogation of Article 370, which gave special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.
Till 5 pm, a voter turnout of 65.5% was recorded. Udhampur district recorded the highest turnout of 72.9% and the lowest was seen in Baramulla at 55.67%.
A total of 415 candidates were in the fray in seven districts: Jammu, Udhampur, Samba and Kathua in the Jammu region, and Baramulla, Bandipora and Kupwara in northern Kashmir.
Among the prominent faces contesting on Tuesday included People’s Conference chairperson and former minister Sajjad Lone, who was fighting from two seats in Kupwara.
Two former deputy chief ministers – Tara Chand and Muzaffar Baig – were also in the fray. While Chand, a Congress veteran, was contesting from Chhamb, Baig was fighting from Baramulla on a Peoples Democratic Party ticket.
National Panthers Party India chief Dev Singh contested the polls from Chenani. Former ministers Raman Bhalla was fighting from RS Pura, Usman Majid from Bandipora, Nazir Ahmad Khan from Gurez, Taj Mohiuddin from Uri and Basharat Bukhari from Wagoora-Kreeri.
More than 39.1 lakh voters were eligible to vote in the third phase across 5,060 polling stations, PTI reported.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged voters “to come forward and cast their votes to make the festival of democracy a success”.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah also asked those casting their ballots to “use their vote power to form a government that keeps Jammu and Kashmir away from terrorism, separatism, nepotism and corruption and is determined to protect the rights of every section”.
While the first phase of polling in Jammu and Kashmir on 24 seats saw a voter turnout of 61%, the second phase recorded a 57.31% turnout.
Counting of votes will take place on October 8, alongside that of the Haryana Assembly polls.
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