J&K Lok Sabha polls phase 6: Anantnag-Rajouri sees turnout of 51.35% till 5 pm, breaks 28-year-old record

Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag-Rajouri constituency reported a voter turnout of 51.35 per cent till 5 pm.

As per officials, the Rajouri assembly seat had the highest turnout of 67.09 per cent while Nowshera witnessed a turnout of 65.47 per cent. The Anantnag, Anantnag West and Kulgam Assembly segments were the only three areas where the voter turnout has so far been below 35 per cent. It is the first election held in the constituency since the abrogation of Article 370 five years ago.

Smooth polling was reported from the Anantnag-Rajouri constituency that comprises 18 assembly seats. After the delimitation was carried out in the now Union territory of J&K in 2022, Pulwama district and the Shopian assembly seat were removed from the South Kashmir Lok Sabha constituency.

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti is in the fray from this seat, considered a bastion of her People’s Democratic Party. She has been pitted against National Conference’s (NC) Mian Altaf Ahmad.

Mehbooba Mufti was elected to the Lok Sabha from Anantnag in 2004 and 2014. However, she resigned from her seat in 2016 after taking oath as the chief minister of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.

In the old Anantnag Lok Sabha seat, the voter turnout in 2019 was around 9 per cent while in 2014, it was close to 29 per cent. In the 11 Assembly segments falling in the Kashmir valley, the poll percentage till 5 pm was reported to be at 42.26.

Anantnag-Rajouri is among the 58 Lok Sabha constituencies that went to polls in the sixth phase of Lok Sabha elections on Saturday. Voting took place in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Haryana and Odisha in the penultimate phase. The seventh phase of voting will take place on June 1 and counting of votes is scheduled to be held on June 4.