Last Updated: October 01, 2024, 08:02 IST
Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Elections 2024 LIVE Updates: The third and last phase of voting for the Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections began on Tuesday in 40 assembly constituencies of seven districts. A voter turnout of 57.31% was recorded in the second phase while 61.38% of voters cast their vote in the first phase.
Around 39.18 lakh voters will decide the fate of 415 candidates in the third phase in the Kashmir valley’s three districts of Kupwara, Baramulla and Bandipora and the Jammu region’s Jammu, Udhampur, Kathua and Samba districts. Out of 39.18 lakh voters, 20.09 lakh are male voters and 19.09 lakh female voters and 57 third-gender voters.
A total of 5,060 polling stations have been set up across these districts. Each polling station will have a team of four election staff, including a Presiding Officer, summing up to over 20,000 polling staff deployed for this phase.
The main political parties contesting the election are the Congress, National Conference, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), Apni Party, CPI(M), J&K People’s Conference, and the Democratic Progressive Azad Party.
Prominent candidates include including former deputy chief minister Tara Chand (Chhamb), Muzaffar Hussain Beig (Baramulla), Sajad Lone (Handwara, Kupwara), Devinder Rana (Nagrota). Lok Sabha MP Engineer Rashid has fielded his brother Khursheed Ahmad from Langate.
Security has been beefed up at all the polling stations and arrangements for elders, women and voters with disability have been put in place.
Elections in Jammu and Kashmir are being held in three phases. Voting for 24 seats in the first phase was held on September 18 while 26 seats went to the polls on September 25 in the second phase. The counting of votes will be held on October 8.
