The Election Commission had ordered repolling for 38 polling stations in the Srinagar constituency. This decision was taken after the bypolls on April 9 were disturbed with violence. The repolling has begun in the 38 stations amidst tight security.
The election voting started at 7:00 A.M., and will last until 4:00 P.M. All the 38 booths are located in Central Kashmir in the Budgam district. This region was worst hit during elections with stone pelting and destruction of EVMs and death of 8 civilians on Sunday. Of the 8 deaths in the police firing, 7 were in Budgam. It is for this reason the Election Commission had ordered to hold a repoll on Tuesday, which was postponed due to a RSS Bandh.
Apart from security, the EC has also arranged CCTV cameras and audiovisuals in all the stations to aid smooth voting. Also, the district administration imposed restrictions under Section 11 CrPc (Curfew) in all the places in Budgam expect those going for polls today. The Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Jammu and Kashmir personally reviewed all the arrangements for re-polling after the meeting about the same.
On April 9, the bypolls registered the lowest voter count with 7.14 % people out of 12.5 lakhs turning up. For this re-polling, nine candidates that include Farooq Abdullah of National Conference and PDP’s Nazir Ahmad Khan. The vote counting of this elections will be on April 15. This need for the election rose after the seat fell vacant after PDP leader Tariq Hammed Karra resigned from Lok Sabha after allegations of atrocities last Summer by his party members.
