Lok Sabha Elections 2024 | Jammu & Kashmir: Returning officer stands in queue to cast his vote in Udhampur

Jammu: In an unusual scene, the returning officer of the Udhampur Lok Sabha constituency on Friday exercised his franchise after standing in a queue and waiting for his turn at a polling station in the Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir.

Rakesh Minhas (34), who originally hails from Punjab, came to a polling station set up at the irrigation department in the Kathua town and exercised his franchise after waiting in a queue for his turn.

Rakesh Minhas and his wife Saloni Rai, both 2016 batch IAS officers, were deputed to Jammu and Kashmir from Daman and Diu in August 2022, and they were later posted as deputy commissioners of Kathua and Udhampur districts.

Polling is underway in the Udhampur parliamentary seat, spread across five districts of Udhampur, Kathua, Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban, which will seal the electoral fate of 12 contestants, including Union Minister Jitendra Singh, Congress candidate and two-time former MP Choudhary Lal Singh and DPAP candidate and former Jammu and Kashmir minister G M Saroori.

Later, Minhas showed his index finger marked with indelible ink and expressed his satisfaction over the trend of turnout in the constituency.

"We should not be careless about our democratic rights. Even if there is a queue, it takes only 15 to 20 minutes to cast your vote," Minhas told reporters. "My appeal to voters is to come out in large numbers and fulfil their democratic right. Voting started at 7 am and will continue till 7 pm," he said, adding the inclement weather, especially in Kishtwar, in the morning had no impact on voting, which is going on smoothly.