By IANS,
New Delhi/Srinagar: Polling in Srinagar was “absolutely peaceful” as 24 percent voting was recorded Thursday despite boycott call by separatists and threats from militant groups, officials said.
The voting percentage in Srinagar – the urban hub of Kashmir’s separatist campaign – was more than what was recorded in the 2004 parliamentary elections, Deputy Election Commissioner R. Balakrishnan told reporters in Delhi.
The 24 percent voting in Srinagar “needs to be compared with 18.57 percent in the 2004 polls”, R. Balakrishnan said.
In Srinagar, chief electoral officer B.R. Sharma said the parliamentary and assembly polls cannot be compared, as he was asked to draw a comparison between a higher voter turnout in the 2008 elections and relatively low in the Lok Sabha polls.
On an average 60 percent voters voted in the November-December assembly elections.
“The parliamentary and assembly election cannot be compared,” Sharma said.
He said there were 245 candidates to mobilise voters in the assembly polls while in this Lok Sabha there were only 15 candidates.