Srinagar/Jammu, Oct. 13 (PTI): Just 3.49% of the electorate voted in the third phase of the urban local body polls in militancy-hit Kashmir Valley, while a high turnout of 82 % was recorded in Jammu’s Samba district, officials said Saturday.
The frontier town of Uri in Baramulla district recorded a 75.34% turnout, bucking the trend in the Valley, which has witnessed low polling in the first two of the four-phase elections after boycott calls from parties like the NC, the PDP and the CPI (M).
In the 20 wards of the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) that went to polls in the third phase, only 1.84% of the 1.53 lakh eligible voters exercised their franchise, the election officials said.
Safakadal, a ward in the city’s old town, and Chanapora, in the Civil Lines, polled less than 10 votes each. The polling, which began at 6 am and ended at 4 pm, saw 11 SMC wards recording less than 100 votes.
They said in Uri, 75.34 % of the 3,552 voters cast their votes, while in the Mattan Municipal Committee of Anantnag district, the only town in India other than Konark to have a Sun Temple, witnessed a turnout of 2.81%.
Brisk polling was witnessed in Uri with people lining up outside polling booths much before 6.00 am, the officials said.
Of the 3,552 eligible voters, 2,676 turned up to exercise their franchise at the UMC’s 13 wards. There are 31 candidates in the fray.
People of the town turnout in large numbers in elections and in this poll, it has the highest turnout in the Valley. In the 2014 Jammu and Kashmir elections, Uri constituency saw 82.94% voting and in 2008, 82.07 %.
The officials said in Sheerpora ward of the Anantnag Municipal Council, where election authorities had ordered a repoll, only 1.39% of the 2,643 exercised their franchise.
Though 151 wards were to go to polls in the third phase in the Valley, voting was held only in 40 wards. Forty-nine wards were won uncontested and no nominations filed for 62 wards.
