Amid palpable tension in the air, a little over 14,000 ‘brave’ voters stepped out of their houses in ‘disturbed’ districts of Shopian and Pulwama in the third and final phase of polling in the Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency, sealing the fate of PDP Chief Mehbooba Mufti, on Monday.
However, in the cold desert region of Ladakh, an estimated 64 per cent electorate exercised their right to vote in a multi cornered contest.
According to Chief Electoral Officer, J&K Shailendra Kumar, “the fifth and final phase of polling in the State passed off peacefully on Monday”.
He said, the twin districts of Shopian and Pulwama recorded around 2.81 per cent voting while Ladakh Parliamentary constituency recorded 64 per cent polling during the day. He said, Kargil district recorded little over 73 per cent polling while Leh district recorded around 55 per cent polling.
Overall poll percentage in all five phases touched 44.15 per cent in the State, he added.
Since morning majority of polling booths in Shopian and Pulwama districts wore a deserted look amid tight security arrangements. Hardly any voters approached the polling stations in Shopian, Wachi, Rajpora, Pulwama and Tral segments of Anantnag.
To scare away voters, unidentified militants lobbed a grenade at a polling station in Pulwama while a petrol bomb was hurled at another polling station in Shopian. No loss of life was reported in both the incidents.
Reports of clashes between protesters and the security forces were received from various areas of both Pulwama and Shopian. Separatists have also given a separate election boycott and a shutdown
call in Shopian and Pulwama districts.
In Ladakh, the contest was four-cornered between Jamyang Tsering Namgyal of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Rigzin Spalbar of the Congress and two independents, Haji Asgar Ali Karbalai and Sajjad Hussain.
In Anantnag, the main contest is between Mehbooba Mufti of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ghulam Ahmad Mir of Congress and Justice (retired) Hasnain Masoodi of the National Conference.
Till late evening, all the polling parties returned safely from Shopian and Pulwama district. Barring few reports of clashes the deinduction process was completed peacefully.
Local reports claimed at least four locals received injuries when security forces used tear smoke shells to disburse them.