News Brief
Srinagar Records Higher Voter Turnout Compared To 2019 In Phase Four Of Lok Sabha Poll: Here's All About It
Srinagar. (Representative Image) (Waseem Andrabi/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)
Srinagar witnessed a voter turnout of about 29 per cent by 3 PM on Monday (13 May), according to the Election Commission.
This seat is one of three parliamentary seats in Kashmir and is among the 96 seats voting in Phase 4 of the Lok Sabha elections across the country.
In the 2019 elections, Srinagar's turnout was 14.43 percent. However, this Monday's figures at 11 am have already surpassed the 2019 turnout numbers. By 3 pm, Srinagar recorded a turnout of about 29.93 percent. Voting began at 7 am and will continue until 6 pm.
This marks high enthusiasm in people for exercising their democraic rights in a region infested with terrorism and sporadic incidents of violence.
A social media user highlighted how father of an active Pakistan based terrorist Owaise Feroze Mir has come out to vote in elections.
"Kashmir is going out to vote, and the people are giving a strong statement in the favour of democracy. Here is the father of Owaise Feroz Mir, an active terrorist based in Pakistan, casting his vote in a booth at Pampore town in Pulwama, Kashmir", the user stated.
In Pulwama village, for the first time in decades since 1987, residents have enthusiastically participated in the democratic process.
The 2024 Lok Sabha Elections mark the first general elections in the erstwhile state since the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution in August 2019 by the BJP-led central government.
This move stripped Jammu and Kashmir of its special status and downgraded it into two Union Territories – J&K and Ladakh. Baramulla and Anantnag-Rajouri, the other two seats in the Kashmir Valley, will vote in the next two rounds of Lok Sabha polls.
In Srinagar, NC candidate Aga Ruhullah is facing off against Waheed Para of the PDP, while the JK Apni Party has fielded former minister Mohammad Ashraf Mir. The AP candidate is supported by Sajad Lone’s JK People’s Conference.
This election is noteworthy for the absence of poll boycott calls, a rarity in decades past. Srinagar has traditionally been a stronghold of the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC), with the party winning 10 out of 13 elections held for the seat so far.
Party president and former chief minister Farooq Abdullah won the seat in 2019, following in the footsteps of his son Omar Abdullah and mother Begum Akbar Jehan Abdullah, who have also represented the seat.
