Mobile internet services suspended in Kashmir parts as Lok Sabha Polls Phase 2 begins

Mobile internet services have been snapped in Srinagar and other parts of the Valley as a precautionary measure, as Srinagar and Udhampur parliamentary constituencies go to vote today in the second phase of the Lok Sabha elections. The polling is scheduled to began at 7 am and will continue till 6 pm. 11 states and a Union territory are exercising their franchise. Polling will seal the political future of a total of 85 candidates contesting from different parties in the EVMs.

Over 12.95 lakh electors will decide the fate of 12 candidates, including former chief minister and NC president Farooq Abdullah, in the Srinagar parliamentary constituency. The constituency is spread over 15 assembly segments, comprising three districts of central Kashmir Ganderbal, Srinagar and Budgam.

According to the figures provided by the chief electoral officer of the state, the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat has 12,95,304 registered voters 6,67,252 males, 6,27,282 females, 744 service voters (728 males and 16 females) and 26 transgender voters.

The election authorities have set up 1,716 polling stations in the constituency

The 12 candidates in the fray are Farooq Abdullah of the NC, Sheikh Khalid Jehangir of the BJP, Nazir Ahmad Lone of the Rashtriya Jankranti Party, Irfan Raza Ansari of the J&K Peoples Conference, Abdul Rashid Ganie of the J&K National Panthers Party, Abdul Khaliq Bhat of the Shiv Sena, Aga Syed Mohsin of the J&K Peoples Democratic Party, Nazir Ahmad Sofi of the Manavadikar National Party, Showkat Hussain Khan of the JD(U), and independents Abdul Rashid Banday, Bilal Sultan and Sajad Ahmad Dar.

A total of 235 polling stations have been set up in Ganderbal district, which comprises the two assembly segments of Kangan and Ganderbal and has a total of 1,76,650 electors, the poll body said.

Srinagar, comprises eight assembly segments of Hazratbal, Zadibal, Eidgah, Khanyar, Habba Kadal, Amira Kadal, Sonawar and Batamaloo, and has 6,49,236 electors. A total of 857 polling stations have been set up across the district, it added.