Monday 11th May, 2026
10% polling recorded in 2nd phase in Anantnag PC
Anantnag, Apr 29: About 10 per cent polling was recorded in Kulgam district in the second of three phase polling in Anantnag Parliamentary Constituency (PC) in south Kashmir on Monday.
Barring few incidents of stone pelting, the polling remained by and large peaceful in the constituency which was held amidst unprecedented security arrangements following boycott and strike called by Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) on Monday.
Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Shalinder Kumar told media persons this evening that 10.3 per cent polling was recorded in Kulgam district of the constituency.
The voter turnout today was lowest so far recorded in the state, he said, adding earlier lowest was 13.6 per cent in Anantnag district, which went to polls in the first phase for three phased Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency.
The first phase in Anantnag district recorded 13.6 per cent polling on April 23 while the last and third phase election in Pulwama and Shopian districts will be held on May 6 in the constituency.
Over 13.93 lakh voters are eligible to decide the fate of 18 candidates, including former chief minister and President of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Mehbooba Mufti, Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief G A Mir, and Justice (Retd) Hasnain Masoodi and Sofi Mohammad Yousuf of BJP.
The authorities have set up 443 polling station in the district, official said adding 1732 polling personnel and 62 Micro-Observers have been deployed adding a total number of 3,44,244 electorates, including 7,778 migrant voters, are eligible to vote on Monday.
“Assured Minimum Facilities (AMF) for polling stations with regard to power supply, furniture, water supply and other required facilities had been put in place, they said, adding that the ramp facilities have also been ensured at the polling stations.
The campaigning, which came to an end Saturday evening, witnessed some militant attacks, including grenade attacks, firing on a vehicle carrying poll material, besides stone pelting in south Kashmir.
They said besides state police, Central Paramilitary Force (CPMF) personnel in strength have been deployed at polling stations to provide a secure atmosphere to voters to cast their ballots. Besides, security forces, including Army, already engaged in anti militancy operations would be there to prevent any violent incident.
Lackluster campaigning in Kulgam district ended on Saturday evening. Article 370, 35 A, highway ban, NIA and ED action against separatists, businessmen and ban on Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) were among the main issued raised by the contesting candidates, particularly PDP, NC and Congress. Senior leaders of different political parties managed to address election rallies under unprecedented security arrangements.
The candidates in the fray are Hasnain Masoodi of NC, Sofi Yousuf of BJP, Ghulam Ahmad Mir of Congress, Mehbooba Mufti of PDP, Nisar Ahmad Wani of National Panthers Party, Choudhary Zaffar Ali of People’s Conference, Sanjay Kumar Dhar of Manav Adhikar Party, Surinder Singh of Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) and Imtiyaz Ahmad Rather, Ridwana Sanam, Riyaz Ahmad Bhat, Zubair Masoodi, Shams Khwaja, Ali Mohammad Wani, Ghulam Mohammad Wani, Kyasir Ahmed Sheikh, Manzoor Ahmad Khan and Mirza Sajad Hussain Beigh, all independents.
Kulgam Assembly segment has the highest number of 98,298 voters, including 455 service voters and 4 transgender voters) while as Noorabad has the lowest 77,171 electors, including 188 service voters and 4 transgender voters.
Though all political parties, including NC, PDP, BJP and Congress organised poll meetings under very heavy security cover, majority people remained indifferent to election process.
Due to security reasons, bypoll could not be held in the constituency after the seat fell vacant when Ms Mehbooba resigned to become the chief minister of the state following demise of her father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed in 2016. However, bypoll in Srinagar constituency was held in 2016 after PDP MP Tariq Hameed Karra resigned in protest against party’s coalition with BJP.
Later, Dr Farooq Abdullah of NC was elected. But, the bypoll to Srinagar Lok Sabha seat was marred by violent clashes between security forces and protestors that left eight civilians dead.
Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Conference, which does not have much of a presence in south Kashmir, has fielded Chaudhry Zaffar Ali as its candidate.
The BJP, which had managed to garner only 1.26 per cent of the votes polled in Lok Sabha constituency during 2014 general election, has fielded Sofi Yousuf, a MLC this time. Besides candidates from other smaller parties, there are the independent candidates in fray for the constituency.
Out of 16 Assembly segments, PDP had won 11 seats, Congress and NC bagged two each while one went to CPI(M) in the constituency in 2014 when no party could manage to get magic 44 figure in 87-member-House. Later, PDP and BJP formed a coalition government.
The Lok Sabha seat was for the first time in 1967 represented by Congress leader Mohammad Shafi Qureshi, who retained the seat for two successive terms – 1971 and 1977. From 1980 to 1989 the constituency was represented by three NC leaders, Ghulam Rasool Kochak, Begum Akbar Jahan Abdullah, wife of Sheikh Abdullah, and P L Handoo. No elections could be held in 1991 due to militancy in the valley.
The seat was represented by Janata Dal leader Mohammad Maqbool in 1996. Mufti Mohammad Sayeed got elected on Congress ticket 1998. In 1999, the seat was represented by Ali Mohammed Naik of NC.
However, since 2004 till 2014, the constituency was represented by PDP Ms Mehbooba was elected in 2004, Mirza Mehboob Beg in 2009 and again Ms Mehbooba in 2014.
UNI