Jammu, May 12: After 2019 and the abrogation of Article 370, this Lok Sabha election is going to be the first when there is no boycott call in Kashmir and people will be free to exercise their franchise without any fear and threat.
The last poll boycott call was given by the separatists in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and the Srinagar Parliamentary Constituency recorded a little over 9.5 percent polling.
The 2024 Lok Sabha elections is the first election in J&K which is being held with any boycott call thus giving a fear-free environment to the people of Kashmir Valley to exercise their democratic right of voting.
The Srinagar Lok Sabha seat will go to polls on Monday, May 12, and 24 candidates are in the fray including 16 independents. However, the main contest is between the National Conference (NC), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Jammu Kashmir Apni Party (JKAP).
There are a total of around 17,47,810 voters in the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat which has five districts namely, Pulwama, Budgam, Ganderbal, Srinagar and Shopian.
There are around 8.75 lakh males and 8.71 lakh female voters in the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat. A total of 2135 polling stations have been set up and 10,000 polling staff members have been deputed for conducting free and fair elections for Srinagar Lok Sabha seat.
The main contest is between Ruhullah Mehandi of NC, Waheed Parra of PDP and Mohd Ashraf Mir of Apni Party.
