Kashmiris reject second phase of election in IHK

ISLAMABAD: People in Central Kashmir rejected the second phase of the election by India Thursday as 90 polling booths saw no voting in the polling held for the Srinagar constituency of the Lok Sabha.

According to the Kashmir Media Service, the Srinagar constituency recorded zero turnouts in as many as 50 polling booths. The majority of these booths were located in Eidgah, Khanyar, Habba Kadal and Batamaloo areas of Srinagar. Many booths recorded a single digit voting percentage with Eidgah at 3.3 percent at the end of the polling.

In Ganderbal district, which is part of the Srinagar constituency, as many as 27 polling booths recorded no votes at the end of the polling. The residents of Nuner village of Ganderbal district stayed away from polling booths after pledging to boycott voting at the funeral of a local youth, who was martyred by Indian troops during a cordon and search operation earlier this month. The youth, Raheel Rashid Sheikh, was martyred by the troops in Imamsahib area of Shopian district on April 6. He was studying M-Tech in a college in Chandigarh. The poll staff, tired of waiting for someone to turn up, in Nuner was seen basking in the sun for most of the time. No one turned up to vote at any of the polling booths here.