Srinagar: The Chief Electoral Officer Jammu and Kashmir Pandurang. K. Pole on Monday congratulated all the voters and expressed his gratitude towards all those voters who came in large numbers to cast their votes.
He also appreciated work done by all the polling personnel, including security personnel deployed in the election process, Police officers, ARO, RO, and District Election Officers for their service in making the ongoing elections successful.
The fourth phase of voting for general elections to 18th Lok Sabha concluded peacefully in Srinagar on Monday with a 37.99 % voting in the districts of Srinagar, Ganderbal, Pulwama, and Budgam & Shopian Districts partly, a figure likely to go up, an official statement said.
It said that the corresponding percentage for last Lok Sabha election in 2019 was 14.43 %. There was no boycott and no polling station where voting percentage was nil / 0 %. Voters participated with lots of enthusiasm.
The statement said that the highest ever poll percentage since the eruption of terrorism in Kashmir was recorded in year 1996 with 40.94 %. But in 1996 the geographical boundary of Srinagar Parliamentary Constituency was smaller (only Srinagar, Budgam and Gandharbal Districts); however now the size of PC has been increased and whole of Pulwama district and one Assembly segment of Shopian district has been included. “We can say it is the highest for Srinagar PC in todays size. Main reasons of increased record polling percentage are improved security – law and order environment in last 4-5 years, mobilization by 24 candidates and Political parties, election awareness done by Deputy Commissioners and CEO office through SVEEP activities and more importantly voters strong belief that it is the Ballot which can lead to sustainable development (aman, tarraki and khush-hali),” the statement added.
“Polling took place in 2,135 polling stations across the Srinagar Parliamentary constituency with live webcasting at all the polling stations. Voting started at 7 a.m. across the PC with long queues of enthusiastic voters waiting to cast their votes,” it said.
“Demonstrating the spirit of democracy the voters of Srinagar, Budgam, Ganderbal, Pulwama, and Shopian showed up in record numbers to cast their votes in a significant show of faith in the Election Process. Since beginning of the poll at 7.00 AM, Voters were seen standing in long ques at many polling stations across the all 5 Districts. Elderlies, ladies, youths were seen enthusiastically exercising their right to vote in a peaceful environment,” it added.
The Chief Electoral Officer, Jammu and Kashmir Pandurang. K. Pole monitored the progress of voting in Phase -IV across the Parliamentary constituency from the Union Territory-level Command and Control Center established at ICCC- HMT, Bemina and CEO Office, Srinagar, the statement said.
It is pertinent to mention here that the Command and Control center has been working 24 x 7 at Srinagar as well as Jammu since 16 March to ensure free, fair, and inducement-free elections.
The statement said that the actual polling started at 7.00 AM and after two hours of polling, 5.16% polling was recorded in the constituency at 09:00 am; at 11.00 AM -15.05% of voting, at 01:00 – PM 23.80% voting; at 3:00 PM – 30.23% voting was recorded. By 5:00 pm, 36.10% polling was recorded in the constituency. Assembly segment wise highest poll percentage was observed in KANGAN with 58.80 % and lowest in HABBAKADAL with 14.05 %.
Around 17,47,810 lacs electors exercised their Franchise. More than 8,500 polling staff has performed poll duty. Actual Poll continued till 6.00 pm or conclusion of the polling, whichever is later. At every polling station, basic minimum facilities of water, electricity, toilet, ramp, verandah/ waiting room etc were made. Hon’ble Chief Election Commissioner Sh. Rajiv Kumar, during his detailed review at Srinagar on 12-13 March, level playing field was ensured for all candidates, it added.
Even wheelchairs and volunteers were provided as and when required. Effort was made to give better experience to voter. In many polling station premises, it was seen that even small kids were accompanying their parents and playing in the premises. Polling stations were full of festivity, the statement said.
In order to ensure inclusive voting, 20 number of polling booths managed by women (also called as pink polling stations), 18 number of polling booths managed by specially abled persons and 17 number of polling stations managed by youths were established. Also to spread the message about environmental concerns, 21 green polling stations were set up. To facilitate voter identification, apart from EPIC card, other documents such as Adhar card, Bank Passbooks, Driving License, PAN Card, Govt employee ID card etc documents were also allowed as per Election Commission of India’s directions. Media facilitation was done through special passes for more than 600 journalists, it said.
The democratic spirit has won over any kind of apprehension in the mind of the average Kashmiri voter. As per guidance of Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar, the meticulous planning and execution of SVEEP activities was done and it ultimately has resulted in a significant increase in the voter turnout. Every nukkad natak, street play, painting competition and rally has translated into an increase overall voter turnout. The spirit of democracy has triumphed and not even a single incident of stone pelting has been reported, the statement added.
The enthusiasm among the political parties, who are an important stakeholder in the democratic process can be gauged from the fact that a record number of applications regarding various permissions have been received on the Suvidha portal, it said, adding that the general elections to Lok Sabha in PC- SRINAGAR were violence free and witnessed historic participation from the voters of Kashmir.
There were 17140 Kashmiri migrants electors in PC- SRINAGAR who opted for voting at 26 Special Polling Stations established at Jammu (21), Udhampur (01) and Delhi (04). At these 26 special polling stations, there was voter turn out of 39.09 %. A total 6700 migrant voters exercised their voting right out of which 213 voted at Delhi, 160 at Udhampur and 6327 exercised their voting right at Jammu. It is also for the first time that the migrant community has turned for vote in such a large numbers, the statement said.
