LS polls: Nearly 50 per cent turnout in two seats of J&K

Updates: 8:00 pm: Nearly 50 per cent voting for two seats in Jammu & Kashmir, according to the Election Commission.

4:49 pm: 32.13 per cent polling registered in Jammu & Kashmir.

1:47 pm: 27 voters exercise their franchise till 1 pm. The voting percentage in Ladakh was 42 per cent, Baramulla 24.5, Kupwara 41.26, Bandipora 20.43. In Ladakh Lok Sabha seat spread over Kargil and Leh districts, the officials said Kargil registered a voter turnout of 49 per cent while Leh recorded 35 per cent.

12:12 pm: An average 16 per cent polling recorded till 11 am. The polling percentage in Baramulla 9 per cent, Kupwara 20, Badipora 14, Leh 14, Kargil 26.

9:15 am: The fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections in Jammu and Kashmir witnessed violence as a grenade attack was reported on a polling booth in Pahlan Pattan, Baramulla, in which a CRPF personnel was injured. Massive stone pelting was also reported in Baramullah and Sopore.

Srinagar: Polling on Wednesday began for Baramulla Parliamentary seat of Jammu and Kashmir even as an explosive device was found in the vicinity of a polling booth in Pattan in the constituency.

Polling for this constituency, where 15 candidates are in the fray, began at 7 am as voters in areas close to Line of Control queued up outside the polling stations at the scheduled time of start, officials said.

A police spokesman said a crude explosive device was found in the vicinity of a polling booth in Pattan which was defused.

Three CRPF personnel and an army jawan were injured in a suspected militant attack on a security forces camp at Sopore town last night, while a petrol bomb was hurled on a school building housing a polling station in Watergam area of the constituency yesterday morning.

An official spokesman said several areas have reported brisk voting during the first hour of voting.

"Large queues have been seen outside many polling stations with enthusiastic voters including first time voters besides female voters upbeat about exercising their right to vote," he said.

Meanwhile, polling also started in Ladakh Lok Sabha constituency where four candidates are in the fray.

(With additional information from PTI)