Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Polling ends in 5 J-K seats, 58% record voter turnout: Officials

livemint.com:

Lok Sabha Elections 2024.Saturday's numbers have surpassed the 49.58 percent turnout recorded in 2014 and the 47.99 percent in 1996 Lok Sabha Elections, officials said. J&K, however, had six Lok Sabha seats in 1996 and 2014, instead of present five.

Follow all Live Updates on Lok Sabha Elections Phase 6 HereChief Electoral Officer (CEO), J&K, PK Pole said on Saturday that the 58 per cent turnout for all Jammu and Kashmir seats is a record. "The previous high was 49 per cent recorded in 2014, while the turnout in 1996 was 47.99 per cent," Pole said.The Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha constituency recorded about 53-per cent voter turnout on Saturday, as polling for the five Lok Sabha seats in Jammu and Kashmir came to an end, officials said.Also Read: Kashmir News: J-K assembly polls soon after Lok Sabha Election 2024? Here's what CEC said after record Baramulla turnoutThe five seats had about 87.26 lakh electorate, of which over 50 lakh exercised their franchise in the first major election held in the Union Territory after the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Centre in August 2019.

The erstwhile state was also divided into two UTs – J&K and Ladakh. Before 2019, J&K had six Lok Sabha seats, including Ladakh.

Now that Ladakh is a separate UT, the parliamentary seats in J&K have been reduced to five. LiveMint couldn't verify whether or not the numbers shared by officials, had kept the separation of Ladakh seat from J&K in 2019 into consideration.

All three seats of Kashmir Valley – Srinagar, Baramulla and Anantnag-Rajouri – witnessed record turnouts. While Anantnag-Rajouri registered about 53 per cent polling on May 25, Baramulla saw 59.1 per cent voter turnout on May 20 and Srinagar