Protests mar polling in Hazratbal

Hazratbal (J&K), June 3 (PTI) Protests in Kashmir valley
against the death of two women in Shopian marred voting in
Hazratbal Assembly Constituency where by-election was held
Wednesday amid tight security, with low turnout in many of the
119 polling booths.

Militants hurled a grenade towards a polling station at a
private school in Rainawari locality within minutes of
commencement of polling. The grenade exploded on the roadside,
35 yards away from the polling station. No casualty was
reported, official sources said here in India's northern state
of Jammu and Kashmir.

National Conference candidate Sheikh Mustafa Kamaal said
that polling had been affected due to tension in the valley
after bodies of Nelofar (22) and Asiya (17) were recovered in
Shopian, 52 km from here, on Saturday.

"Voting was adversely affected in the constituency. There
is no doubt in that. We were expecting a heavy turnout but
because of prevailing situation, voters are not coming out of
their houses", Kamaal told reporters at Naseembagh.

He said the grenade attack too had kept voters away.

While moderate polling was recorded at some stations on
the outskirts of the constituency, several other polling
booths of the constituency recorded "zero" voting till midday.

However, some like centenarian Abdul Rehman Bhat and his
90-year-old wife Janna (90) were among the first to cast their
votes. The couple turned up at 107 Burzahama polling station
where out of 384, only 55 ballots had been cast.

The by-poll was necessitated after National Conference
president Farooq Abdullah vacated the seat following his
election to Rajya Sabha.

Abdullah has since been elected to the Lok Sabha (Lower
House of Indian Parliament) and appointed as a cabinet
minister at the Centre.

87,326 voters were eligible to cast their votes in the
election being held amid tight security. All roads leading to
the constituency were sealed by police and paramilitary forces
deployed in and around 119 polling booths.

Polling staff at station number 50 at Jogilanker-
Rainawari said no voter had turned up till midday. The booth
had been set up for an electorate of 498 electorate.

At 51-jogilanker, only seven voters were cast out of 533
till midday. The story was no different in the nearby 54
Bagh-e-jogilanker, where three votes were cast out of 761.

However, at 28 Shalbaaf Mohalla, 218 voters cast their
votes out of 954. In Umerheer polling booth number 4, out of
906 electorate as many as 287 voters cast their votes. at
polling station number two umerheer, 218 votes were cast out
of 488.

National Conference candidate Kamal, locked in a
five-cornered contest in the constituency, faces a serious
challenge from PDP candidate Asiya Naqash. PTI AMS