11 seats in Kashmir Valley see dip in voter count as compared to 2014 poll

Voting for the third and last phase of the J&K Assembly elections was held peacefully in Kashmir on Tuesday. Except four seats, most of the Assembly segments in Kashmir recorded a lower turnout as compared to the 2014 Assembly polls.

As many as 15 Assembly segments witnessed an increase, while one other saw a dip in voter turnout as compared to the recently held Lok Sabha elections. The third and the final phase of the elections covered 40 Assembly constituencies across seven districts of J&K. As many as 16 Assembly segments in Kupwara, Baramulla and Bandipora districts of the Kashmir division went to the polls on Tuesday.

While voters came out in large numbers at several places in the morning hours, the figure at most of the seats didn’t cross the turnout of the 2014 Assembly polls.

Only four seats of north Kashmir saw a higher turnout on Tuesday. The Sopore Assembly segment, a separatist hotbed, a militant stronghold and a bastion of late Hurriyat patriarch Syed Ali Shah Geelani, witnessed a voter turnout of 45 per cent, much higher than the previous Assembly elections.

“It is a matter of getting our rights and identity back,” said Mohammad Sultan, a Sopore resident, who cast the vote on Tuesday. Sopore today saw higher turnout as compared to the recently held Lok Sabha polls, when 44.36 per cent turnout was recorded.

Baramulla, Pattan and Wagoora Kreeri Assembly segments also registered higher turnout today as compared to the 2014 Assembly polls.

Today, Baramulla registered 54 per cent voter turnout, Pattan 67.30 per cent and Wagoora saw 60.72 per cent polling. In 2014 polls, the three segments registered 39.73 per cent, 58.72 per cent and 58.53 per cent voter turnout, respectively.

The constituencies that witnessed an increase in the voter turnout as compared to the recently held Lok Sabha elections are Karnah, Trehgam, Kupwara, Lolab, Sopore, Rafiabad, Uri, Baramulla, Gulmarg, Wagoora-Kreeri, Pattan, Sonawari, Bandipora, Gurez and Langate.

The Langate Assembly segment, hometown of Lok Sabha MP Engineer Rashid, was among the segments that saw a dip in the voting percentage in comparison to the 2014 polls.

“I exercised my franchise in the Lok Sabha elections and I voted today as well,” said Abdul Rashid, a local resident.

According to an official statement late on Tuesday night, J&K recorded overall 63.45 per cent polling in the 2024 Assembly elections. In the 2008 Assembly poll, the overall figure in J&K was 61.01 per cent, while in the 2014 elections, the total polling was 65.84 per cent. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, J&K recorded 57.89 per cent polling.