Srinagar: In the first phase of voting in Jammu and Kashmir, a turnout of 61.11% was recorded, with Kishtwar showing the highest participation at 80.14%.
Voting took place for 24 assembly constituencies, with 219 candidates in the fray. The elections were held across seven districts, including Anantnag, Pulwama, Shopian, and Kulgam in the Kashmir region, as well as Doda, Ramban, and Kishtwar in Jammu. There were 16 constituencies facing elections in Kashmir, including Pampore, Tral, Pulwama, Rajpora, Sainapora, Shopian, DH Pora, Kulgam, Devsar, Dooru, Kokernag, Anantnag West, Anantnag, Shrinagar-Bijbehara, Shankus-Anantnag East, and Pahalgam.
In the Jammu region, elections took place in eight constituencies: Inderwal, Kishtwar, Paddar-Nagseni, Bhaderwah, Doda, Doda West, Ramban, and Banihal. More than 2.3 million voters were expected to cast their votes in this phase, including 566,000 eligible young voters aged between 18 and 29. Among them, there were 123,960 voters aged between 18 and 19. Additionally, there were 10,261 male first-time voters and 9,329 female first-time voters.
This was the first election in Jammu and Kashmir since the abrogation of Article 370. The last assembly elections were held in 2014.
