Turnout in large numbers, PM Modi urges voters

New Delhi, Dec 9: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday urged voters in Jammu and Kashmir and Jharkhand to turnout in "record numbers" and cast their ballot in the ongoing assembly elections.

"Urging all those voting today, in phase three of the assembly elections in J&K and Jharkhand, to turnout in record numbers and cast their vote," he said in a tweet.

Balloting began Tuesday in 16 assembly constituencies in the third round of the five-phase elections in Jammu and Kashmir, and 17 of the 81 assembly constituencies in Jharkhand.

Meanwhile, nearly 13 per cent of the electorate exercised their franchise in the first two hours of polling in 17 constituencies spread across eight districts of Jharkhand, amidst tight security. While Koderma recorded the maximum 16.90 per cent voting in the first two hours, Barkagaon constituency witnessed the minimum at 7.60 per cent, polling officials said.

Some faulty EVMs were immediately replaced on receiving complaints from a few polling booths, they said. Voters were seen standing in queues in front of the booths from 7 AM and were keeping themselves warm by lighting small fires by the roadside near booths.

Similarly in Kashmir, defying a separatist call to boycott the polls, voters formed queues at polling stations in the third round of the staggered assembly election. Militants lobbed a grenade in Gulmarg, but there were no casualties.

The ballotting took place four days after a string of terror attacks that left 21 people, including eight soldiers, dead in Kashmir.

Voters trickled out Tuesday morning at almost all the polling stations to elect representatives for the 16 assembly segments as freezing cold gripped Kashmir.

As the day progressed and the sun peeped out, more voters thronged the polling booths.

Long queues of enthusiastic voters in Kramshore village of Khansahib constituency in Badgam district seemed determined Tuesday to choose their representatives, completely ignoring the separatist calls to stay away from the poll process.

IANS