Amir Tantray
Jammu, Apr 26: People in huge numbers came out to vote in the second phase of parliamentary elections for Jammu Lok Sabha seat and enthusiasm was seen among all the age groups as the constituency recorded 71.91 percent of voting all across.
Be it centenarians, retirees, newly married or young, everyone came out to cast his or her vote.
Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Assembly segment of district Reasi topped the list with over 79.91 percent polling whereas Bahu Assembly segment of Jammu district recorded the lowest turnout at 62.34 percent.
People of Jammu, Samba and Reasi districts made sure that they come out in large numbers and cast their vote in favour of their candidate who they want to represent them in the Lok Sabha for the next five years. Long queues were seen all across both men and women and even in posh colonies like Gandhinagar and Trikuta Nagar, people were seen standing in long queues to wait for their turn to vote. They tried to brush aside the tag of sitting in air condition rooms and not voting during summer heat.
Jammu Lok Sabha seat comprises 18 Assembly segments including 11 Assembly segments of Jammu district including Bishnah, Suchetgarh, Ranbir Singh Pura (Jammu-south), Bahu, Jammu East, Nagrota, Jammu West, Jammu North, Marh, Akhnoor and Chhamb, three Assembly segments of Samba district including Ramgarh, Samba and Vijaypur, three Assembly segments of Reasi district including Gulabgarh, Reasi and Shri Mata Vasihno Devi and one Assembly segment of Rajouri district Kalakote-Sunderbani.
There were over 17.80 lakh electorates eligible to vote in Jammu PC including 921,095 male, 859,712 female and 28 third gender voters. The chief electoral office had established 2,416 polling stations and over 15000 polling staff were deputed to conduct the elections in a fair and transparent manner.
A total of 22 candidates are in the fray for this seat whereas the contest is mainly between Bharatiya Janta Party’s (BJP) Jugal Kishore Sharma and Congress party’s Raman Bhalla.
According to the data provided by the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) J&K, Akhnoor recorded 78.27 percent votes, Bahhu 62.34 percent, Bishnah 76.54 percent, Chhamb 75.76 percent, Gulabgarh 71.47 percent, Jammu East 66.11 percent, Jammu north 67.29 percent, Jammu West 62.82 percent, Kalakote-Sunderbani 69.10 percent, March 79.31 percent, Nagrota 75.63 percent, R S Pura 68.11 percent, Ramgarh 75.27 percent, Reasi 74.19 percent, Samba 69.23 percent, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi 79.43 percent, Suchetgarh 75.94 percent and Vijaypur recorded 75.67 percent.
The day began with the enthusiasm among people who turned up at polling stations early so that they don’t have to stay in long queues during the day when the sun comes out with all its might. For the first half of the day, most of the people had casted their votes which was evident with the fact that by 1 pm, over 42 percent polling was recorded across the 18 segments of Jammu Parliamentary constituency.
This constituency is important as nine out of 18 Assembly segments have voters near the International Border (IB) and Line of Control (LoC) and in a couple of Assembly segments in Reasi district people are scattered in hills where commuting is difficult.
People in all the 18 Assembly were enthusiastic about casting their vote as few were not interested in who the candidates are but they were voting for the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and to elect him as the PM for the third consecutive time. The polarization factor was also there as the recent attack of PM Modi on Congress party’s manifesto also echoed here. But there were people who were more interested in voting on local issues which haven’t been addressed. Few traders said that they casted their vote to improve the business which has suffered a lot for the last many years.
