Srinagar/ April,11 : Over 6.5 per cent of the 13.12 lakh electorate cast their votes Thursday in the first two hours of polling in Baramulla Lok Sabha constituency in Kasjmir valley officials said. The seven assembly segments in Baramulla district registered a turnout of 5.8 per cent in the first two hours of polling which began at 7 am, the officials said. District wise poll percentage for first two hours officially confirmed is detailed below:
- Jammu 14.12%
- Samba 16.52%
- Rajouri 11.88%
- Poonch 12.98%
Baramulla Constituency
- Baramulla 5.80%
- Kupwara 7.98%
- Bandipora 5.97%
Migrants 10.24%
Overall poll % in the State is 11.43%upto 9 a.m
Those in fray from Jammu-Poonch Lok Sabha constituency include BJP sitting MP Jugal Kishore Sharma seeking his re-election for second consecutive term after he won the seat in 2014 with a huge margin of 2.57 lakh votes, Congress leader and former Minister, Raman Bhalla , Dogra Swabhiman Front leader and former Minister, Choudhary Lal Singh, Nationalist Panthers Party supremo Prof Bhim Singh and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate, Badrinath . Bhalla has the support of National Conference, People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and CPM.
From Baramulla Lok Sabha constituency those in the fray include Muhammad Akbar Lone of National Conference, Farooq Ahmad Mir of Congress, Raja Aijaz Ali of People’s Conference, Mohammad Maqbool War of BJP, Jahangir Khan of NPP, Abdul Qayoom Wani of PDP and independent candidates Javid Ahmad Qureshi, Syed Najeeb Shah Naqvi and Abdul Rashid Sheikh. PPD stalwart Muzaffar Hussain Baig had won the 2014 Lok Sabha election from Baramulla constituency but he chose not to seek re-election this time. Baig had defeated his nearest rival Sharief-ud-Din Shariq of National Conference by a margin of 29219 votes.
While the 2014 elections in this north Kashmir was a virtual head on contest between PDP and NC, a multi-cornered contest is expected this time around with emergence of People’s Conference as the third regional force in Kashmir. Former MLA from Langate Abdul Rashid Sheikh’s decision to contest the Lok Sabha polls has spiced up the contest. Baramulla Lok Saha seat is spread over 15 assembly segments in three districts of north Kashmir. Authorities have established 1749 polling stations at 1387 locations for over 13.12 lakh voters to exercise their franchise.
