Voting for two LS seats begins in J&K

SRINAGAR — Polling began on Monday for Ladakh and Anantnag Lok Sabha seats in Jammu and Kashmir. Enthusiastic voters started pouring out to throng the polling stations in Leh and Kargil districts.

In contrast, most of the polling stations wore a deserted look in Shopian and Pulwama districts where polling is being held in the third and final phase of Anantnag Lok Sabha seat.

Polling started at 7 a.m. in both the Lok Sabha seats, but it will end at 4 p.m. in Anantnag constituency and 6 p.m. in Ladakh constituency.

In the hilly Shahdab Karewa village of Shopian district, voters started to come out in good numbers to exercise their democratic rights.

In Ladakh, the contest is four-cornered between Jamyang Tsering Namgyal of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Rigzin Spalbar of the Congress and two independents, Haji Asgar Ali Karbalai and Sajjad Hussain.

There are 18 candidates in fray in Anantnag, but the main contest is between Mehbooba Mufti of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ghulam Ahmad Mir of Congress and Justice (retired) Hasnain Masoodi of the National Conference.

The votes will be counted on May 23.