Jammu Lok Sabha records 71.91 per cent polling

JAMMU — People in huge numbers came out to vote in the second phase of parliamentary elections for Jammu Lok Sabha seat and enthusiasm was seen among all the age groups as the constituency recorded 71.91 per cent of voting all across. Be it centenarians, retirees, newly married or young, everyone came out to cast his or her vote.

According to the news agency KNO, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Assembly segment of district Reasi topped the list with over 79.91 per cent polling whereas Bahu Assembly segment of Jammu district recorded the lowest turnout at 62.34 per cent.

People of Jammu, Samba and Reasi districts made sure that they came out in large numbers and cast their votes in favour of the candidate who they wanted to represent them in the Lok Sabha for the next five years. Long queues were seen all across both men and women and even in posh colonies like Gandhinagar and Trikuta Nagar, people were seen standing in long queues to wait for their turn to vote. They tried to brush aside the tag of sitting in air-conditioned rooms and not voting during the summer heat.

Jammu Lok Sabha seat comprises 18 Assembly segments including 11 Assembly segments of Jammu district including Bishnah, Suchetgarh, Ranbir Singh Pura (Jammu-south), Bahu, Jammu East, Nagrota, Jammu West, Jammu North, Marh, Akhnoor and Chhamb, three Assembly segments of Samba district including Ramgarh, Samba and Vijaypur, three Assembly segments of Reasi district including Gulabgarh, Reasi and Shri Mata Vasihno Devi and one Assembly segment of Rajouri district Kalakote-Sunderbani.

There were over 17.80 lakh electorates eligible to vote in Jammu PC including 921,095 male, 859,712 female and 28 third gender voters. The chief electoral office had established 2,416 polling stations and over 15000 polling staff were deputed to conduct the elections in a fair and transparent manner.

A total of 22 candidates are in the fray for this seat whereas the contest is mainly between Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Jugal Kishore Sharma and Congress party’s Raman Bhalla.

According to the data provided by the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) J&K, Akhnoor recorded 78.27 per cent votes, Bahu 62.34 per cent, Bishnah 76.54 per cent, Chhamb 75.76 per cent, Gulabgarh 71.47 per cent, Jammu East 66.11 per cent, Jammu north 67.29 per cent, Jammu West 62.82 per cent, Kalakote-Sunderbani 69.10 per cent, March 79.31 per cent, Nagrota 75.63 per cent, R S Pura 68.11 per cent, Ramgarh 75.27 per cent, Reasi 74.19 per cent, Samba 69.23 per cent, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi 79.43 per cent, Suchetgarh 75.94 per cent and Vijaypur recorded 75.67 per cent.

The day began with enthusiasm among people who turned up at polling stations early so that they didn’t have to stay in long queues during the day when the sun came out with all its might. For the first half of the day, most of the people had cast their votes which was evident by the fact that by 1 pm, over 42 per cent polling was recorded across the 18 segments of the Jammu Parliamentary constituency.

This constituency is important as nine out of 18 Assembly segments have voters near the International Border (IB) and Line of Control (LoC) and in a couple of Assembly segments in Reasi district, people are scattered in hills where commuting is difficult.

People in all the 18 Assembly segments were enthusiastic about casting their votes as few were not interested in who the candidates were but they were voting for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and to elect him as the PM for the third consecutive time.

The polarization factor was also there as the recent attack of PM Modi on the Congress party’s manifesto also echoed here. But there were people who were more interested in voting on local issues which haven’t been addressed. Few traders said that they cast their vote to improve the business which has suffered a lot for the last many years.