Grenade attack on Anantnag booths

Protesters outside a polling booth during the Lok Sabha election in Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir on Monday.  

Constituency registers lowest-ever turnout of 2.38%; Ladakh records 63.7%

The third leg of polling for the Anantnag Lok Sabha seat registered the lowest-ever turnout of 2.38%, with at least three attempts to launch grenade attacks on the polling booths. The Ladakh Lok Sabha constituency recorded a 63.7% turnout in the fifth and last phase of the election in the State on Monday.

“An overall 44.51% was recorded in Anantnag and Ladakh constituencies. The three phases of polls for the Anantnag Lok Sabha seat, including Shopian and Kulgam on Monday, registered a cumulative 8.76% polling,” an Election Commission official said.

The polling percentage in Anantnag was 28.54% in 2014.

An uneasy calm prevailed in the “highly sensitive” Shopian and Pulwama districts, with the Assembly segments of Tral, Pampore, Rajpora, Pulwama, Wachi and Shopian recording 1.9%, 5.26%, 1.64%, 0.77%, 1.7% and 4% polling, respectively.

No vote in 300 booths

No vote was cast in nearly 300 polling stations, according to sources in the Election Commission.

With the completion of all five phases of polling, the total percentage of voting in various parliamentary constituencies in the State — Baramulla, Jammu, Srinagar, Udhampur, Anantnag and Ladakh — was recorded at 44.51%.

Suspected militants tried to target booths with grenades at Rohmu, Chatpora and Tiken in Pulwama. “No injuries were reported in any of the grenade attacks. One live grenade was defused by the bomb disposal team,” the police said. However, one youth was injured in clashes in Pulwama.

In Pulwama, which took centre stage during the election campaign in the country in the wake of the February 14 suicide attack that left 40 CRPF jawans dead, polling staff remained on edge due to fear of militant attacks and stone throwing by the local people.

The Congress and the PDP accused each other of intimidation and booth capturing in Pampore. The Congress sought re-polling in Pampore and Rajpora.

A video from the Rajpora segment showing a Congress worker allegedly being beaten up by PDP workers went viral on social media.

Former Chief Minister and PDP president is contesting the Anantnag seat.