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Phase-3 of J&K civic polls: Just 3.49% turnout in Valley

Srinagar/Jammu: Just 3.49 per cent of the electorate voted in the third phase of the urban local body polls in militancy-hit Kashmir Valley, while a high turnout of 82 per cent was recorded in Jammu's Samba district, officials said Saturday.

The frontier town of Uri in Baramulla district recorded a 75.34 per cent turnout, bucking the trend in the Valley, which has witnessed low polling in the first two of the four-phase elections after boycott calls from parties like the NC, the PDP and the CPI (M). In the 20 wards of the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) that went to polls in the third phase, only 1.84 per cent of the 1.53 lakh eligible voters exercised their franchise, the election officials said.

Safakadal, a ward in the city's old town, and Chanapora, in the Civil Lines, polled less than 10 votes each. The polling, which began at 6 am and ended at 4 pm, saw 11 SMC wards recording less than 100 votes.

They said in Uri, 75.34 per cent of the 3,552 voters cast their votes, while in the Mattan Municipal Committee of Anantnag district, the only town in India other than Konark to have a Sun Temple, witnessed a turnout of 2.81 per cent.

Brisk polling was witnessed in Uri with people lining up outside polling booths much before 6.00 am, the officials said.

Of the 3,552 eligible voters, 2,676 turned up to exercise their franchise at the Uri Municipal Committee's 13 wards. There are 31 candidates in the fray.

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