Jammu and Kashmir Chief Electoral Officer PK Pole on Wednesday said that the polling process in the first phase of the assembly elections took place peacefully without any incident.
He also expressed confidence that turnout would exceed 60%.
“The voting is going on on a massive scale. The progress of voting indicates a high turnout. We expect a turnout of over 60 percent. So far, the voting process has been peaceful and uneventful,” Pol said.
The official was visiting various polling booths set up for Kashmiri migrants in the Muti area of Jammu city.
He said that the first phase of polling was conducted in 24 constituencies and 3,266 polling stations.
Boll said that as of 11 a.m., 26% of the votes had been counted.
“We have set up 19 polling stations for Kashmiri migrants to vote in 16 constituencies in Kashmir,” he said.
Pol added that he has visited various Kashmiri migrant polling stations in Jammu and nearly 20% of the votes have been cast.
On Wednesday, 24 constituencies in seven districts of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir will go to the polls. More than 2.3 million voters will decide the fate of 219 candidates, including 90 independents.
This will be the first assembly election to be held in Jammu and Kashmir since the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019. For the first phase of polling, the Jammu and Kashmir Police has put in place elaborate security arrangements to ensure maximum voter turnout. A total of 23,27,580 voters are eligible to vote in the first phase, including 11,76,462 men, 11,51,058 women and 60 voters of the third gender.
In addition, 123,000 young people aged between 18 and 19, 28,309 persons with disabilities and 15,774 voters aged 85 and above are eligible to exercise their franchise in the first phase. (Agency)
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