Despite a poll boycott call by separatists, voters in the prestigious Srinagar constituency stepped out to exercise their franchise in the Beerwah, Budgam, Ganderbal and Kangan Assembly segments. At the end of the day, a 21 per cent voter turnout was recorded.Maximum voters showed up at Charar-e-Sharief where the voter turnout was a healthy 59 per cent. Habba Kadal recorded a dismal one per cent.There was heavy security bandobast and militants could make only four attempts since last night to disrupt polls, including an attack today on the Yachigam polling booth in Budgam where a woman was injured. Polling was by and large free and fair although PDP president Mehbooba Mufti and her NC counterpart Omar Abdullah traded charges, accusing each other of rigging the polls.Jammu and Kashmir chief secretary S S Bloeria described today’s polls as ‘‘unprecedentedly peaceful’’ and pegged the turnout at 21 per cent, approximately 10 per cent more than the turnout during the 1999 Lok Sabha polls. He said among the voters was Ghulam Rasool Bhat, more than 100 years old.State election commissioner B L Nimesh said he had received some complaints of coercion but none could be substantiated. While Srinagar’s highly congested downtown area was dismissive of the polls, people did show up at the booths in the city suburbs and in parts of Budgam district.With virtually no transport on the city streets, children and youth were seen playing cricket in the sensitive downtown areas of Khanyar, Rajouri Kadal, Batamaloo, Maisuma and Nallamar. In many homes, people watched the progress of polls on television.NC legislator Ali Md Sagar was arrested at Khanyar on charges of bogus voting. At Lar, PDP workers clashed with police, accusing the latter of permitting bogus voting.
