Jammu, April 26 (UNI) The voting for Jammu-Reasi parliamentary constituency started on Friday in three districts of the Jammu region amid tight security arrangements.
More than 17.80 lakh voters on the Jammu parliamentary seat will decide the fate of 22 candidates in the fray.
Declared holiday in the district of Jammu, Samba and Kathua in view of voting, not much rush was seen at the polling stations, but it is expected to swell as the day progress.
The border residents will play a key role as the constituency will witness direct fight between the Congress and the BJP candidates.
BJP’s two-time sitting Member Parliament Jugal Kishore Sharma is in a direct contest with former minister Raman Bhalla of the Congress party.
Out of the 18 Assembly segments of Jammu constituency, nine segments have votes in border areas, both on IB and LoC including Ramgarh and Samba Assembly segments of Samba district, Bishnah, Suchetgarh, Ranbir Singh Pura, Marh, Akhnoor and Chammb of district Jammu and Sunderbani-Kalakote Assembly segment of Rajouri district.
A total of 17,80,835 voters including 9,21,095 male and 8,59,712 female voters besides 28 third gender electorates are eligible to vote for this seat.
The Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) J&K, P K Pole said that around 2,416 polling stations have been established across the three districts and one Assembly segment of Rajouri district to ensure smooth polling.
More than 15,000 polling staff, including reserves have been deployed and the election staff including Presiding Officers is stationed in every polling station, he added.
The voting shall continue till 6 pm, he said.
The Election Commissioner of India has established 62 polling stations on border areas which include 50 in Jammu district and 12 in Samba district where thousands of voters living close to the border will be casting their votes.
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