May 13, 2024 1:58 PM.
Srinagar recorded about 37.98 per cent voter turnout as updated till 11.45 pm on May 13, the Election Commission said.
One of the three parliamentary constituencies of Kashmir, Srinagar was among the 96 seats that voted in the phase 4 of Lok Sabha elections across the country.
The final turnout will come on Friday, though.
The Srinagar seat, comprising volatile old-city areas of Srinagar city apart from Budgam, Ganderbal, Pulwama and Shopian districts, has registered low voter turnout in last few decades. In 1989, the first general election after insurgency broke out in the valley say about 5 % voter turn out. The only candidate from NC won the election unopposed.
In 2019 elections, the seat had recorded 14.43 per cent voter turnout. Farooq Abdullah of National Conference won the seat. In 2014, the seat recorded 25.8 % voter turn out and in 2009, the voter turnout was 25.6 %.
41% in 1996.
The highest voter turnout in Srinagar seat in last three decades was in 1996 general elections when the seat saw 40.9 % voter turnout. In 1998, the turnout was 30 % while it was 11.9 % in 1999. In 2004, the turnout in Srinagar was 18.6 per cent, as per Election Commission of India records.
Thus, Monday’s turnout of about 38 per cent, is highest figures for Srinagar seat since 1996. Overall, the 96 seats recorded about 62.84 per cent voter turnout till 5 pm, according to the poll panel figures.
The voting was held between 7 am and 6 pm.
TheLok Sabha Elections 2024are the first general elections in the erstwhile state since the abrogation ofArticle 370of the Constitution in August 2019 by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled Union government.
The abrogation stripped Jammu and Kashmir of its special status. The government also downgraded the erstwhile state into two Union Territories – J&K and Ladakh. Baramulla and Anantnag-Rajouri –the other two seats of Kashmir Valley – will vote in the next two rounds of Lok Sabha polls.
NC candidate Aga Ruhullah is up against Waheed Para of thePeoples Democratic Party(PDP) from the Srinagar seat. The JK Apni Party (AP) has fielded former minister, Mohammad Ashraf Mir for the Srinagar seat. The AP candidate is backed by Sajad Lone’s JK People’s Conference (PC).
No poll boycott calls.
The 2024 general election is, perhaps, the first voting exercise in decades where there have been no poll boycott calls.
Also Read: Kashmir News: Three-way fight in NC bastion Srinagar in phase 4 Lok Sabha polls today
Srinagar has been a stronghold of Jammu and KashmirNational Conference(JKNC), the regional satrap that has won 10 out of 13 elections held for the seat so far. Party president and former chief ministerFarooq Abdullahwon the seat in 2019. Before Farooq, his son Omar Abdullah and mother Begum Akbar Jehan Abdullah have also represented the seat.