15.12.14

State Elections : Phase IV



Jammu and Kashmir recorded 49.5% polling in the fourth phase of polls on a cold Sunday even as workers of various parties clashed in some places. This is a jump of about 4% from the corresponding figure from 2008 polls. Chief electoral officer Umang Narula said the voting percentage figures received from the 18 constituencies were tentative. Srinagar district (eight seats) recorded 28% polling, Shopian (two seats) 50%, Anantnag (six seats) 61% and Samba district (two seats) 81%. While Shangus recorded the highest turnout (67.27%) in Kashmir division, Vijaypur saw the highest (81.31%) in Jammu division, Narula said.
The poll boycott call by separatists and militants affected voting at several polling stations in downtown Srinagar.Till 11 am only seven of 563 votes had been cast at the polling station in a school at Chota Bazaar. BJP candidate from Shopian constituency , Javed Ahmad Qadri, allegedly thrashed a voter inside a polling station at Moochwa while in Natipora, forces had to be called in after PDP and NC workers exchanged blows.


Voting percentage in the fourth phase of the assembly elections in Jharkhand increased by 7.1% from the 2009 polls, to 61.08%. However, urban voters' indifference in Bokaro and Dhanbad, despite intensive awareness campaigns launched by the EC, remained a cause for concern.
Bokaro recorded the lowest turnout on Sunday at 51.11%. The coal city performed better with 55%. The party that should be worried by this trend in urban assembly segments is the BJP as it is banking on urban votes.

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