Only 55 polling stations normal in Srinagar constituency

Of a total of 1,546 polling stations being established in the Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency, just 55 have been categorised as normal, an official said Wednesday.

The election notification for Srinagar Lok Sabha seat was issued Wednesday by Returning Officer Farooq Ahmad Shah.

"Out of 1,546 polling stations being established for Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency, 1,021 have been categorized as hyper-sensitive and 470 as sensitive, while 55 polling stations are categorised as normal. This is based on security reasons," Shah told the media persons here.

"Segment wise break-up of polling stations is, 804 in Srinagar district, 540 in Badgam and 202 in Ganderbal district."

The nomination papers can be filed from April 2 to April 9, and the last date of withdrawalof candidature would be April 12. Polling will be held on April 30 between 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., the returning officer said.

He also said the total number of voters in Srinagar constituency is 1,171,772.

Ruling National Conference (NC) patron and union Minister Farooq Abdullah has already announced he would be seeking re-election from Srinagar as the joint candidate of the National Conference and the Congress.

Abdullah is being challenged by Tariq Hameed Karra, senior leader of the Peoples Democratic Party leader who is a former minister.