The Anantnag district Tuesday recorded 13.63 percent voter turnout during the first leg of voting in the scheduled three-phased election in the southern parliamentary segment, officials said.
Addressing a news conference here, Chief Electoral OfficerShailendra Kumar said 13.63 percent polling was recorded across the Anantnagdistrict, which went to polls in the third phase of ongoing Lok Sabha electionsin the state.
“The highest polling was recorded in Pahalgam assemblysegment and the lowest in Bijbehara,” he said.
Spread over four districts of Anantnag, Kulgam, Shopian andPulwama, the southern Kashmir Lok Sabha constituency is witnessing a triangularcontest between former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, J&K CongressPresident Ghulam Ahmad Mir and former High Court Judge Hasnain Masoodi.
The remaining three districts of Kulgam, Shopian and Pulwamawill go to polls on April 29 and May 06.
This is for the first time in the electoral history of thecountry that any segment is witnessing the Lok Sabha elections in three phases.
Kumar, who was flanked by Divisional Commissioner KashmirBaseer Ahmad Khan and Kashmir range Inspector General of Police Swyam PrakashPani, said 39.37 percent voter turnout was recorded in Anantnag district duringthe 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
To a question whether the low turnout in south Kashmir was amatter of concern for the Election Commission of India, Kumar said they cannotforce people to vote.
“We generally expect every eligible person included in theelectoral rolls and every person registered in the voter lists to vote, but wecannot force (people to vote),” he said.
According to official details, 3.47 percent voter turnoutwas recorded in Anantnag assembly segment and 2.04 percent in the Bijbeherasegment.
Both these segments were considered as strongholds of thePeoples Democratic Party and were represented by Mehbooba Mufti and AbdurRehman Veeri, respectively, in the last assembly, which was dissolved onNovember 21 last year.
The neighbouring Dooru, Kokernag and Shangus segments sawpolling of 17.28 percent, 19.50 percent and 15.10 percent respectively, the CEOsaid. The Congress has significant influence in Dooru, Kokernag and Shangusareas.
The Pahalgam assembly segment, where both NC and PDP havesignificant foothold, recorded 20.37 percent polling—the highest among all sixassembly segments of Anantnag.
According to details, 71923 votes were polled in sixassembly segments of Anantnag district where the strength of electorate is 5,27,497.
Of these, 4101 were migrants who exercised their right tofranchise in Jammu and other cities.
In the Anantnag Assembly segment, 3004 votes were polled outof 86565 votes, officials said.
13598 voters exercised their right to franchise in Dooruassembly segment out of 78684, while in the neighboring Kokernag segment, 18312votes were polled out of 93897, they said.
Only 1905 persons came out to exercise their right tofranchise in Bijbehera having 93289 voters.
As many as 13354 persons came out to vote in Shangus assemblysegment where the number of registered voters is 88431, the officials said.
Against 86631 eligible voters in Pahalgam, 17,649 personsexercised their right to franchise, they said.
In 2017, the ECI had to cancel by-election for the SouthKashmir parliamentary segment due to “law and order challenges” and “increasein militancy”, according to officials.
The by-election was necessitated after Mehbooba Mufti, whohad won the 2014 LS polls, quit the seat following her victory in the Assemblyby-poll in June 2016.