Over 53 pc polling in Jammu; 4 injured in sporadic clashes

, April 10: Over 53 per cent of the 17.63 lakh voters turned out to vote till 3 PM at the booths of Jammu Lok Sabha constituency, which witnessed boycott of voting in 4 polling stations and also sporadic clashes in which at least four political party workers were injured.

"Over 53.2 per cent polling was witnessed in Jammu constituency till 1500 hours today," according to the figures released by Jammu and Kashmir Election Department in its election bulletin here.

Union Minister Gulam Nabi Azad cast his vote at DPS school polling station in Jammu city in the morning. DIG Jammu-Kathua range, Shakeel Ahmed Baig said elaborate security arrangements have been put in place and there is no report of any untoward incident in Jammu.

Over 9,39,000 people exercised their franchise out of total 17,63579 voters till 3 PM. Giving break up, they said that the highest 64.09 per cent polling was recored in Samba district of the constituency followed by Jammu district at 53.45 per cent, Poonch 50 per cent and Rajouri district had 49.66 per cent polling.

The poll percentage has gone by 12 per cent from 41 per cent at 1 PM to 53.2 percent at 3 PM. In Gursia polling station in Mendhar teshil of Poonch district a clash broke out between polling agents of PDP and NC resulting in injury to one PDP worker, police said.

They said that situation has been brought to normal and polling re-started. In Cherian polling station of Rajouri district, there were clashes between polling agents resulting in injuries to three persons, they said.

The polling is now going on smoothly after situation was brought under control, they said. In Poonch, people boycotted polling at four polling station of Mandi, Baila, Arichul and Marnote in protest against the inclusion of area in Surankote assembly segment, while the area has been a part of the Poonch Assembly segment in the past.

Senior district officials have rushed to the area to pacify the voters. No votes were polled in these polling stations, they said.

Azad said, "there are tough measures taken by the Election Commission of India (ECI) this time to ensure free and fair polling. Such strong measures were not seen in the past".

As many as 17,63,579 voters are registered in Jammu constituency which has 2,200 polling stations.

80 polling stations have been declared critical. Two time Congress MP Madan Lal Sharma is trying his luck and is pitted against 18 candidates including two strong contenders-- Jugal Kishore of BJP and Yash Pal of PDP.

PTI