The first phase of voting in Jammu and Kashmir remained peaceful, with 61% of votes cast for the 24 assembly seats.

The first phase of voting in Jammu and Kashmir was held on Wednesday. The turnout for the 24 assembly seats was 61%. The turnout in the first phase of assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday was about 61%, the highest in the past seven elections, Chief Electoral Officer PK Pol said. He said the voting was peaceful.

However, he said these figures are provisional and may increase partially after receiving final reports from remote areas and mail-in ballots. After the polls closed at 6 pm, Boll briefed the media that the election was conducted peacefully without any unpleasant incidents.

He said some minor scuffles or altercations were reported at some polling stations, but no serious incidents had occurred, necessitating a re-vote, the Press Trust reported.

He said, “The 61 per cent voter turnout is the highest in the last seven elections (four Lok Sabha elections and three assembly elections).

He attributed the rise in voter turnout to various factors, including better security situation, active participation of political parties and candidates and campaigning conducted by the department. He said Kishtwar district had the highest voter turnout at 77 per cent, while Pulwama district had the lowest at 46 per cent. The polls said it hoped for a high voter turnout in the remaining two phases to be held on September 25 and October 1.

Turnout drops in Shangas-Anantnag

The biggest drop was in Shangas-Anantnag district, where only 52.94% of voters cast their ballots, compared to 68.78% 10 years ago. In Damhal Hanjipora district (earlier known as Nourabad), 68% of voters cast their ballots this time, compared to 80.92% in 2014. Doda and Doda West divisions saw 70.21% and 74.14% votes respectively. Before delimitation, the voting rate in these subdivisions was 79.51%.

Kokernag, a constituency reserved for scheduled tribes, saw a drop in turnout by more than 7% after the delimitation, with only 58.00% of voters voting. This time, turnout in Indwar was 80% compared to 75.72% 10 years ago, but in neighbouring Kishtwar, turnout fell from 78.23% to 75.04%.

Here are the votes for the Valley seats

The turnout in 16 seats in the Valley was almost the same as in 2014. 53.55% of voters cast their ballots on Wednesday, compared to 54.93% in 2014. According to officials, the voting process in the four districts of Kashmir was peaceful without major untoward incidents, as this was the first election in Jammu and Kashmir since 2014 and the first in the Union Territory. Most seats saw multi-cornered contests as independent candidates backed by Jamaat-e-Islami also participated in the campaign.