The high-profile Srinagar and Udhampur parliamentary segments will go to polls in the second phase of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections on Thursday, with political parties and state authorities keeping their fingers crossed about the polling day in three central Kashmir districts.
Spread over three Srinagar, Budgam and Ganderbal districts,the Srinagar constituency has witnessed low voter turnout during theparliamentary elections held after the 1987 state election.
The urban areas like Srinagar have witnessed poor voterturnout since 1989 Lok Sabha elections, leaving the fate of contestants in thehands of voters in pockets like Kangan, Khansahib, Budgam, Chrar-e-Sharif,which have traditionally witnessed high voter turnout.
In the 2017 by-election, mere 7 percent voter turnout wasrecorded in the Srinagar segment.
Farooq Abdullah—three-time J&K chief minister,three-time Lok Sabha member and National Conference president—is trying hisluck on the seat and is locked in direct contest with Aga Mohsin of the PeoplesDemocratic Party and Irfan Reza Ansari of the Peoples Conference.
According to observers, all eyes would be on the voterturnout and security arrangements on the seat, which is considered as “highlysensitive” in official parlance.
J&K’s chief electoral officer Shailendra Kumar said allarrangements have been made to ensure “free and fair election”.
He said 29.81 lakh persons are eligible to cast votes inSrinagar and Udhampur parliamentary seats, where 12 candidates each are in thepoll fray.
He said 4,426 polling stations have been set up in the twinconstituencies.
The Srinagar seat is spread over 15 assembly segments inGanderbal, Srinagar and Budgam districts, where 1295304 persons are eligible toexercise their right to franchise, officials said.
The Udhampur segment is set to witness a direct contestbetween union minister Jitendra Singh (from the Bharatiya Janata Party) andscion of Dogra dynasty VikramidityaSingh (from the Congress party), while the former minister Choudhary Lal Singhand Panthers Party chairman Harshdev Singh are also is fray.
As many as 1665567 persons have voting rights in Udhampursegment, officials said.