Thankful to voters for strengthening democracy: BJP chief

PTI

Rajouri/Jammu, May 25

Jammu and Kashmir BJP president Ravinder Raina on Saturday exercised his franchise at his home constituency in Rajouri district and thanked voters for turning up in large numbers to strengthen democracy in the union territory.

“This is the festival of democracy and we are thankful to the people of Jammu and Kashmir for turning up in record numbers to exercise their franchise for the election of the new government,” Raina told reporters after casting his vote at the Lamberi east polling station in Rajouri.

Referring to the voter turnout in the past four phases, especially in Kashmir, the BJP leader said: “I am hopeful that the people in Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha seat will follow suit and vote in large numbers.”

Congratulating electorates for strengthening democracy, Raina said, “I am confident that the people in Jammu and Kashmir and rest of the country will vote in the interest of the nation and ensure a third term for Narendra Modi, who has worked for the benefit of all sections of the society, especially the poor.”

Meanwhile, BJP supporters missed having a party candidate from the constituency, but said they voted for a candidate, who was being supported by the national party.

“It would have been better if we had our own candidate from the seat. But since the BJP decided to support a candidate from a regional party, we faced no difficulty in casting our vote,” said BJP worker Sham Lal of Nowshera.

Meanwhile, Jammu Divisional Commissioner Ramesh Kumar and Jammu Additional Director General of Police Anand Jain conducted a tour of Rajouri district to personally monitor the polling process. They visited various polling stations across the poll-bound areas of Rajouri to monitor the polling process, said an official.

Udhampur Lok Sabha constituency in Jammu province was the first to go to the polls on April 19, registering 68 per cent turnout in the first major electoral battle since the abrogation of Article 370, sealing the fate of Union Minister Jitendra Singh who is seeking a third term from the seat.

The polling in Jammu parliamentary constituency in the second phase on April 26 recorded a turnout of 69.01 per cent, which is the highest so far in Jammu and Kashmir in this General Election, followed by Srinagar in the fourth phase on May 13 with a poll turnout of 38 per cent, second highest in three decades.

Baramulla parliamentary constituency, from where the National Conference has fielded its vice-president and former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, registered an all-time high voter turnout of 58.17 per cent since its establishment in 1967 on May 20.

Rajouri, along with nearby Poonch, traditionally records high voter turnout. In the last 2019 general election, Rajouri district recorded 65.7 per cent polling, while Poonch hit 70.4 per cent voting.

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