Jammu and Kashmir registers highest voter turnout in 25 years, Jharkhand breaks records
EC said never in the history of elections has a year recorded such a voter turnout
New Delhi: Jammu and Kashmir registered its highest voter turn-out in assembly elections in the last 25 years with an estimated 65 per cent of voters casting their votes, as the fifth and final phase of polling ended on Saturday.
Jharkhand, which also went to the polls along with Jammu and Kashmir, broke all previous polling records to witness over 66 per cent of turn-out in the five phases, bettering the previous mark of 54.2 per cent in the 2004 assembly poll.
Terming the overall polling percentage in Jammu and Kashmir as "historic and unprecedented", Deputy Election Commissioner Vinod Zutshi said the fifth and final phase of polling in the assembly elections saw 76 per cent of polling.
Similarly, the last phase recorded over 71 per cent of polling in Jharkhand, he said.
"It has been the highest turn-out in the last 25 years. This has been a historic turn-out in the current elections... unprecedented and totally peaceful," he said about Jammu and Kashmir elections.
The previous assembly elections of 2008 and 2002 had witnessed 61.42 per cent and 43.09 per cent respectively in Jammu and Kashmir.
The militancy-hit state has seen a quadrangular fight with ruling National Conference, main opposition PDP, BJP and Congress locked in the battle.
Describing the year 2014 as an eventful year for Election Commission, he said "never in the history of elections has a year recorded such a voter turn-out", referring to a string of state Assembly elections and Lok Sabha polls held this year.