25 September,2024 05:25 PM IST | Reasi | mid-day online correspondent
Voters queue outside a polling booth in Poonch to cast their ballot on Wednesday. Pic/PTI
A voter turnout of 46.12 percent was recorded till 3pm in the second phase of Jammu-Kashmir polls across six districts, the Election Commission of India stated.
Reasi led the individual districts with a voting percentage of 63.91 per cent, followed by Poonch with 61.45 per cent, Rajouri with 58.95 per cent, Budgam with 49.44 per cent, Ganderbal with 61. 45 per cent and Srinagar with 22.62 per cent, reported news agency ANI.
Voting for the second phase of Jammu-Kashmir Assembly elections began at 7 am on Wednesday. According to the Election Commission, 25,78,099 eligible voters will seal the fate of 239 candidates across 26 constituencies in six districts of the Union Territory. These include 13,12,730 lakh male voters, 12,65,316 lakh female voters and 53 third-gender voters.
Meanwhile, stepping up his attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led central government, Congress Member of Parliament (MP) and Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said that the Union "snatched" statehood of Jammu and Kashmir so that it can be governed by "outsiders".
"In the history of India, after 1947, several union territories were turned into states. States were divided: Telangana was formed out of Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand was formed out of Bihar, Chhattisgarh was carved out of Madhya Pradesh. But for the first time after independence, a state was turned into a Union Territory. This was done to Jammu and Kashmir. This is an injustice to you. Your democratic rights have been snatched away from you. Today Jammu and Kashmir, is not run by the people of Jammu and Kashmir, it is run by the people of other states," said Rahul Gandhi while addressing a public rally in Jammu.
Gandhi also hit out at Jammu-Kashmir Lieutenant Governor (LG) Manoj Sinha, and said that as long as he is here, outsiders will get benefits and the people of the Union Territory will be side-lined.
"Jammu is hub for Kashmir's businesses, production and it connects Kashmir with the nation. The BJP government and LG have tarnished this role. They have tarnished the backbones (small businesses) of Jammu, which results in unemployment. As long as small and medium businesses of Jammu will not stand on their own capacity, the unemployment rate will stand still. As long as LG is here, the outsiders will get benefits and the people of the Jammu and Kashmir will be side-lined and one of the reasons to snatch your statehood. They want to outsiders to run J-K and not people of Jammu and Kashmir.
The last phase of Jammu-Kashmir polls will be held on October 1 and counting of votes will be held a week later.
(With ANI inputs)
