Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Elections 2024 Live Updates: 58.85% voter turnout in Phase 1, highest in Kistawar at 77.23%

Voter turnout for the 24 parliamentary seats in Phase 1 of the Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections was 58.85%, the Election Commission of India said. The highest voter turnout was recorded in Kistawar at 77.23%, followed by Doda West seat with a turnout of 69.33%, the poll body said.

Jammu and Kashmir is witnessing its first assembly election in ten years today, September 18. The first phase will be held in 24 seats in six districts of the Union Territory (UT). The last assembly election was held in the erstwhile state in 2018.

This election also marks the beginning of the three-stage assembly elections – the first such exercise in the erstwhile state since the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019. The 24 constituencies voting today are spread across Pir Panjal – 16 in Kashmir and eight in Jammu region.

Voting began at 7 a.m. and lasted until 6 p.m., the Indian Election Commission said.

In the 2014 general elections, the PDP led by Mehbooba Mufti won 11 of the 24 seats up for vote today. The BJP and Congress won four seats each, while the National Conference led by Farooq Abdullah and the CPI(M) won one seat each.

In the first phase, 219 candidates are running. According to the Election Commission, a total of 2,327,580 people are eligible to vote. In the first phase, a total of 14,000 election officials are monitoring the process in 3,276 polling stations.

Prime Minister Modi: It is time to strengthen democracy

Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged all constituencies to vote in large numbers and strengthen the celebration of democracy in the first phase of elections in Jammu and Kashmir.

“I particularly urge young voters and first-time voters to exercise their right to vote,” Modi said in a post on X.

Important voting groups

The constituencies going to the polls today include Tral, Pulwama, Rajpora, Zainapora, Shopian, DH Pora, Kulgam, Devsar, Dooru, Kokernag (ST), Anantnag West, Anantnag, Srigufwara-Bijbehara, Shangus-Anantnag East and Pahalgam – all in south Kashmir, once a hotbed of insurgency.

In the Jammu region, voting will take place today on the seats of Inderwal, Kishtwar, Padder-Nagseni, Bhadarwah, Doda, Doda West, Ramban and Banihal.

Alliance between Congress and North Carolina

The Congress and the NC are contesting the elections in alliance. The PDP, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the People's Conference, to name a few, are other parties in the election campaign.

The PDP-BJP government formed after the 2014 general elections could not complete the full six-year term as the BJP withdrew its support to former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti's Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2018.

Since then, the former state has been under central rule.

Key candidates

Among the prominent candidates from Kashmir whose fate will be sealed in today's parliamentary elections is Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami of the CPI-M, who is seeking a fifth consecutive term as a candidate from the Kulgam seat.

Iltija Mufti of the PDP, daughter of party chief Mehbooba Mufti, is contesting for the family stronghold of Srigufwara-Bijbehara. Waheed-Ur-Rehman Para of the PDP is the candidate for the Pulwama legislative assembly seat. Para lost the 2024 Lok Sabha elections for his Srinagar parliamentary seat.

Legislative Assembly elections will be held in Jammu and Kashmir in three phases. The other two phases will be held on September 25 and October 1. The votes will be counted on October 8.

Find all LIVE UPDATES on Phase 1 of Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Elections 2024 here