Polls closed in third phase of Indian general elections

By Shuriah Niazi and Zahid Rafiq

NEW DELHI, India/ANANTNAG, Jammu and Kashmir (AA) - The polls closed with 64.7% turnout in the third phase of India’s general elections on Tuesday, the election commission said.

Voter in a total of 116 parliamentary constituencies spread across 13 states and two union territories went to the ballot boxes.

West Bengal recorded the highest turnout with 79.36%, while Jammu and Kashmir posted only 13.61% turnout, according to the figures compiled by the election commission.

The ruling right-wing Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is the biggest contender in the elections, with current Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking a second term.

Modi cast his vote in his home state of Gujarat, where all 26 constituencies went to the polls, while the number was 20 in the Kerala state.

Akhilesh Yadav, the leader of the regional party in the Uttar Pradesh state, claimed that electronic voting machine across the country are "malfunctioning or voting for the BJP".

Meanwhile, the local media reported incidents of violence at some polling stations.

According to the Times of India, a voter was killed waiting in a queue in West Bengal when a clash broke out between the main opposition Indian National Congress and Trinamool Congress, the ruling party of West Bengal.

With the world’s largest electorate -- nearly 900 million -- the elections in India is being held in seven phases through May 19. The counting will be held on May 23, and the results are expected to be announced the same day.

- Low voter turnout in Kashmir

The voters also went to the polls in the Anantnag district of southern Kashmir.

Shailendra Kumar, the chief electoral officer of Jammu and Kashmir, told reporters that 13.61% turnout was recorded in Anantnag.

Anantnag parliamentary constituency consists of four districts -- Anantnag, Shopian, Pulwama and Kulgam, with all the four districts being home to most of the regions’ militancy and resistance to Indian rule over the past three years.

The anti-India sentiment in the south forced the authorities to hold elections in a single constituency over several phases, with only Anantnag going to polls on Tuesday.

It is the only instance that elections in one constituency will be held over three phases.

Most of the polling stations in Anantnag showed little signs of life except for the heavily armed Indian forces posted all over.

The low turnout came even though Jammu and Kashmir’s former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti is contesting from the constituency. Her home town Bijebehara saw only 1,905 votes polled out of the 93,289 registered voters, a mere 2.04% turnout.

“We are with boycott. The only elections we will ever vote in is the plebiscite under the United Nations resolutions, when we have the option to chose between Independence, Pakistan and India,” Mohammad Lateef, a young man standing nearby a polling station in Khanbal, told Anadolu Agency.

In the first phase, Baramula constituency in Kashmir had seen a voting turnout of 34.61% and then capital Srinagar witnessed 14% turnout.

Meanwhile the region observed a complete shutdown to protest against the detention of senior pro-independence leader Yasin Malik.