New Delhi: Baramulla Parliament Constituency in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir now heads for the highest turnout in the last 8 Lok Sabha elections. Voter turnout of 54.21 % was recorded as of 5 pm in the districts of Baramulla, Kupwara, Bandipora and Budgam of the Constituency today.
Earlier, in the fourth phase, the Srinagar Parliament Constituency covering districts of Srinagar, Ganderbal, Pulwama, Budgam and Shopian Districts partly recorded a voter turnout of 38.49%, the highest in many decades. This has been the first general election in the valley after the abrogation of Article 370 and the enactment of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019.
Polling took place in 2103 polling stations across the Baramulla Parliamentary constituency with live webcasting at the polling stations. Voting started at 7 a.m. across the PC with long queues of enthusiastic voters waiting to cast their votes.
There are 22 candidates in the fray in the Baramulla PC in the ongoing GE 2024. Polling personnel including security personnel worked tirelessly to ensure that an atmosphere of calm, peace and festivities welcomed voters at the polling stations. The Commission has enabled Kashmiri migrant voters residing at various relief camps in Delhi, Jammu, and Udhampur to also have the option of voting in person at designated special polling stations or using postal ballot. 21 Special Polling Stations were established at Jammu, 1 at Udhampur and 4 at Delhi.
Overall, polling was held today in 49 Parliament Constituencies across 8 States/Union Territories. Polling for 35 Assembly Constituencies of the Odisha Legislative Assembly also took place simultaneously.
The 8 States/Union Territories that saw polling in phase 5 today were – Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal. Cities like Mumbai, Thane, and Lucknow also went to polls in this phase, which had in the past suffered from urban apathy in voting.
Until phase 4, the Lok Sabha Elections 2024 had seen a voter turnout at polling stations of about 66.95%. Around 451 million people voted, during the first four phases of ongoing General Elections.
– global bihari bureau
