Brisk voting for third phase of Assembly elections in J-K and Jharkhand

Srinagar/Ranchi: Voting began on a brisk note on Tuesday for third phase of Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir and Jharkhand.

Jammu and Kashmir

Braving cold weather, nearly 12 percent of the electorate today exercised their franchise n the first two hours of voting in 16 constituencies of Jammu and Kashmir.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and three of his cabinet colleagues are among 144 candidates whose fate will be decided in the third phase of polling today in the 16 seats spread across Budgam, Pulwama and Baramulla districts.

At many places, voters lined up at polling stations much before the start of the voting time at 8 am.

An average 11.76 per cent of voters exercised their franchise till 10 am, poll officials said.

While Beerwah in Budgam district witnessed 18.16 per cent of the voters casting their ballot, Sopore registered only four per cent voting till 10 AM, the officials said.

Uri saw over 10 per cent of the electorate exercising their franchise, Rafiabad 12 per cent while Gulmarg saw over 15 per cent voters casting their ballot. Chadoora recorded 15.30 per cent, Budgam 15.88 per cent, Khan Sahib 16.85, Charari Sharief 13.54 per cent, Tral 5.41 per cent, Pampore 12.28 per cent, Pulwama 7.62 and Rajpora 13 per cent, the officials said.

Police said a petrol bomb was hurled by unidentified men at a polling station in Gulmarg constituency. No casualties were reported in the incident.

Barring this incident, polling across all 16 constituencies of the state, was going on peacefully.

Security arrangements in all the three districts have been strengthened in the wake of Friday's violence in which 21 persons including 11 security personnel and eight militants were killed in four incidents in the Valley.

All eyes are on Uri and Tral constituencies, which were hit by militant violence ahead of the polls. The first two phases of elections in the state saw a record turnout of over 70 per cent, with voters ignoring boycott calls by separatists and militant outfits.

The stakes are high for Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as it held nine of the sixteen Assembly constituencies, which have an electorate of 13.69 lakh electors, including 6.51 lakh women.

A total of 144 candidates are in the fray including 10 other sitting MLAs. 1,781 polling stations have been set up in the area.

Omar, who chose to contest from Beerwah in Budgam instead of his family bastion of Ganderbal, hopes that some of the recent steps taken by his government for the area will help him sail through in the constituency, which was won by PDP candidates in the last two elections.

Omar, who is seeking a second term in the Assembly, faces a stiff challenge from sitting PDP MLA Mohammad Shafi Wani and Congress nominee Nazir Ahmad Khan, whose father Sarfaraz Khan had won from Beerwah in 2002 elections as a PDP candidate.

PDP represents nine of the 16 seats while the ruling NC holds only four. Congress and Peoples Democratic Front won one seat each in the last polls while one seat went to Independent.

While seven assembly seats fall in Baramulla district, five are in Budgam and four in Pulwama.

Jharkhand

Moderate polling has been recorded in the first four hours of voting in 17 Assembly constituencies spread across eight districts of Jharkhand with about 30 per cent of the electorate exercising their franchise.

Polling has been incident-free so far, barring protest by villagers in three booths of Simaria constituency for about 15 minutes demanding basic amenities such as water, road and electricity, officials said.

The villagers in booth numbers 147,148 and 149, however, exercised their franchise soon after the district officials assured to look into their grievances, the officials said.

Jharkhand Governor Syed Ahmed and Chief Minister Hemant Soren cast their votes for Ranchi and Hatia assembly segments.

While Koderma registered 36.41 per cent votes, Barkatha registered 25.20, Barhi 32.80, Barkagaon 25.10, Ramgarh 29.50, Mandu 27.50, Hazaribagh 24.50,Simaria 30.56, Dhanwar 32, Gomia 30, Bermo 27.46, Ichagarh 40, Silli 43.14, Khijri 35.59, Ramgarh 31.94, Ranchi 31.94, Hatia 10.25 and Kanke 26.71 per cent.

Former chief minister Babulal Marandi(Dhanwar), ex - Assembly Speaker C P Singh (Ranchi) and three incumbent ministers -- Finance Minister Rajendra Prasad Singh (Bermo), Water Resources Minister Annapurna Devi (Kodarma) and Drinking & Sanitation Minister Jaiprakash Bhai Patel (Mandu) are among the 289 candidates who are in the fray.

Eight MLAs are seeking re-election in this phase. Polling was going on smoothly at Ichagarh constituency where JVM (Prajatantrik) candidate and sitting MLA Arvind Kumar Singh and 11 others were arrested following a clash between his party supporters and BJP workers in adjoining Seraikela-Kharswan district in the early hours today.

DIG (Kolhan) Md Nehal said the incident had nothing to do with the polls.

While polling will end at 3 PM in 14 constituencies, it will continue till 5 PM in Ranchi, Hatia and Kanke constituencies.

A 50,16,657-strong electorate, including 23,55,728 women, are eligible to exercise their franchise. Security forces are keeping a vigil in the Maoist-hit areas where 1,957 booths have been marked as highly sensitive and 1,477 as sensitive booths.

Polling for 33 of the 81 seats was held on November 25 and December 2, which registered 61.92 per cent and 64.68 per cent turnout respectively.