Srinagar:

The Srinagar constituency of Jammu and Kashmir voted on Monday to choose its next representative to the Lok Sabha — the first election there since the general election of 2019. And the voting figure broke all records. In absence of any boycott call from separatists or fear of violence, 38 per cent people came out to vote — a first in 35 years and highest since 1989.  Srinagar had recorded 14 per cent polling in the last general election. PK Pole, the Chief Electoral Officer J&K the figure may go up once the final data is released.

This was the first general election in the Kashmir Valley after Jammu and Kashmir lost its statehood and the special status granted under the Constitution’s Article 370.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi applauded the people and attributed the unexpected turnout to the scrapping of Article 370.

“Would especially like to applaud the people of Srinagar Parliamentary constituency for the encouraging turnout, significantly better than before. The abrogation of Article 370 has enabled the potential and aspirations of the people to find full expression. Happening at the grassroots level, it is great for the people of J&K, in particular the youth,” read his post on X, formerly Twitter.

Would especially like to applaud the people of Srinagar Parliamentary constituency for the encouraging turnout, significantly better than before. The abrogation of Article 370 has enabled the potential and aspirations of the people to find full expression. Happening at the… https://t.co/2DvSCnXFKR

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 13, 2024

Mr Pole said there were four key reasons for high turnout after decades of poll boycott in the Valley.

“I think the first important factor is improvement in situation over last few years. Second is effective campaigning by the candidates and the number of candidates who were in fray,” said Mr Pole.

“SVEEP activities has also played a key role in creating awareness among the people. Above all, it is the people of Kashmir who have realised that ballot is the only answer to ensure sustainable development,” he said.

The Pulwama district, which is part of the Srinagar seat, had recorded just one per cent polling in the last parliament election.

National Conference leader Ghulam Mohi-Ud-Din Mir, who has survived over a dozen terror attacks, said today’s vote is a tribute to hundreds of political workers including his father, who were killed in Kashmir for choosing democracy over militancy.

Today, when he came to cast his vote at a polling booth at Muran village in Pulwama, it brought a chilling reminder of how he survived a major terrorist attack in the same premises in 2018.

“This vote is tribute to hundreds of political workers who were killed for defending democracy in Kashmir” said Mr Mir.

“I was attacked right outside this polling booth in 2018 and the PSO killed was killed in the attack. Today, I feel happy everyone is coming out to vote without any fear,” he added.

There are 24 candidates in fray for the Srinagar seat but the main contest appears to be between National Conference’s Aga Ruhullah Mehdi and People’s Democratic Party’s Wahid Ur Rehman Parra. Both parties have alleged that their workers were detained by the police ahead of polling. The BJP has not fielded any candidate for the three seats of the Valley.

Kannauj:

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, who is contesting today from the Kannauj Lok Sabha seat, says he is secure in the support of Dalits, that came to the party when it had tied up with Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party in 2019. In contrast, the BJP, he implied, despises the so-called lower castes.

“When I went to a temple, the BJP got it washed,” he said, referring to the BJP workers’ purification ceremony at the Gauri Shankar Mahadev Mandir of Kannauj after his visit. A video of the purification ceremony was widely circulated in social media and the incident had provided boost to the SP efforts to weave a rainbow support group of voters at the constituency.

“Today, the fight is big. Today, the BJP wants to change the Constitution which taught us how to live… They will do so if they get 400 seats,” Mr Yadav said, underscoring what has become the Opposition’s biggest allegation.

Mr Yadav has returned to Kannauj to reclaim an old family bastion — his father Mulayam Singh Yadav had nurtured the constituency for years. But the seat went to the BJP in 2019 and sitting MP and perfume trader Subrat Pathak is out to defend it. The battle is seen as the centrepiece of today’s election in Uttar Pradesh as voting is being held on nine other seats.

The fight will be triangular with the BSP fielding Imran Bin Zafar.
“Kannauj parliamentary constituency has taught me the ABCD of politics… I grew in politics in Kannauj,” Mr Yadav said today, referring to his political debut from the seat in 2000.

The fight for Kannauj will be the first Lok Sabha battle for the SP chief in a long time. In 2022, he had resigned his Azamgarh Lok Sabha seat and retained the assembly seat from Karhal.

Mr Pathak has been a repeat contestant from the seat since 2009 and ended the SP’s 35-year dream run at the constituency after a decade in 2019. His opponent was Dimple Yadav, the wife of the SP chief.

Reminding voters of the old times, Mr Yadav said, “People of Kannauj know how much development took place when Samajwadi Party was in power and why development is not happening here today… We gave world class infrastructure to Kannauj, built the world’s best roads… built a market”.

New Delhi:

The fourth phase of voting for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections begins today in 96 Lok Sabha constituencies across 10 states and Union Territories. A total of 1,717 candidates are in the fray in this phase. 

Polling is being held in all 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana, all 25 seats in Andhra Pradesh, 13 in Uttar Pradesh, five in Bihar, four in Jharkhand, eight in Madhya Pradesh, 11 in Maharashtra, four in Odisha, eight in West Bengal and one in Jammu and Kashmir.

Voting is also taking place in the Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency and it is the first major election in Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019. Voting is simultaneously be held in all 175 Assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh and 28 in Odisha in the fourth phase. 

More than 19 lakh polling officials have been deployed at 1.92 lakh polling stations for the over 17.70 crore eligible voters in this round. 

Prominent candidates in the fray are Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Union minister Giriraj Singh, TMC’s firebrand leader Mohua Moitra and AIMIM’s Asaduddin Owaisi, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury,  former cricketer Yusuf Pathan of TMC, Andhra Pradesh Congress president YS Sharmila among others. 

The Lok Sabha elections are being held across seven phases, from April 19 to June 1. The counting is scheduled for June 4.

Here are the LIVE updates on Phase 4 Voting:

Get NDTV UpdatesTurn on notifications to receive alerts as this story develops.

Lok Sabha Election Live Updates: 360 candidates contesting in Phase 4 have criminal cases against them

Phase 4 Lok Sabha Election: Breakup of Lok Sabha Elections Phase 4 electorate

Asaduddin Owaisi

The four-time MP from Hyderabad, AIMIM’s Asaduddin Owaisi, is contesting from his family stronghold Hyderabad, which was represented by his father Salahuddin Owaisi for two decades, from 1984-2004. While the Congress and the Bharat Rashtra Samithi have fielded Mohammad Waliullah Sameer and Gaddam Srinivas Yadav from the seat, Mr Owaisi’s most-talked-about opponent is the BJP’s Kompella Madhavi Latha. 

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury

Of the eight West Bengal seats going to polls in the third phase is Baharampur, the fort of Congress leader in Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. A five-time MP from the seat, Mr Chowdhury is known to hold considerable clout in the north Bengal constituency. This time, he is up against the BJP’s Nirmal Kumar Saha and Trinamool’s pick, former cricketer Yusuf Pathan.

Mahua Moitra

The firebrand Trinamool Congress leader, who was expelled as an MP last December in the cash-for-query case, is contesting again from West Bengal’s Krishnanagar, which elected her in the 2019 election. The seat has been with the Trinamool Congress since 2009.

Lok Sabha Election Phase 4 Voting Updates: Uttar Pradesh Minister Suresh Khanna casts his vote at a polling booth in Shahjahanpur.

INDIA Alliance has fielded SP’s Jyotsna Gond here. She faces BJP’s sitting MP and candidate Arun Kumar Sagar & BSP’s Dod Ram Verma. 

#WATCH | Uttar Pradesh Minister Suresh Khanna casts his vote at a polling booth in Shahjahanpur.

INDIA Alliance has fielded SP’s Jyotsna Gond here. She faces BJP’s sitting MP & candidate Arun Kumar Sagar & BSP’s Dod Ram Verma. #LokSabhaElections2024pic.twitter.com/fpFLtROJ11

– ANI (@ANI) May 13, 2024

Lok Sabha Election Live Updates: Union Minister and BJP candidate from Secunderabad Parliamentary constituency, G Kishan Reddy arrives at a polling booth to cast his vote.

He faces contests from Danam Nagender and BRS’ Theegulla Padma Rao. 

#WATCH | Telangana: Union Minister and BJP candidate from Secunderabad Parliamentary constituency, G Kishan Reddy arrives at a polling booth here to cast his vote. He faces contests from Danam Nagender and BRS’ Theegulla Padma Rao. #LokSabhaElections2024pic.twitter.com/N0v9anwinZ

– ANI (@ANI) May 13, 2024

Lok Sabha Election Live Updates: Voting begins in 96 Lok Sabha seats across 9 states, Jammu and Kashmir in 4th phase.

Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Mock polling underway at polling booth no. 245 at Vivekananda Girls High School of Ichhalabad of the Durgapur Lok Sabha constituency

#WATCH | Bardhman, West Bengal: Mock polling underway at polling booth no. 245 at Vivekananda Girls High School of Ichhalabad of the Durgapur Lok Sabha constituency for #LokSabhaElections2024

BJP’s Dilip Ghosh, AITC’s Kirti Azad and Sukriti Ghoshal of CPI(M) are contesting from… pic.twitter.com/2uXWtUMa7y

– ANI (@ANI) May 13, 2024

Lok Sabha Election Phase 4 Voting Updates: Mock polling underway at polling booth no. 237 of Zila Parishad Boys High School, Kodangal of Mahbubnagar Lok Sabha Constituency

#WATCH | Mahabubnagar, Telangana: Mock polling underway at polling booth no. 237 of Zila Parishad Boys High School, Kodangal of Mahbubnagar Lok Sabha Constituency for the #LokSabhaElections2024

Congress’ Challa Vamshi Chand Reddy, BJP’s DK Aruna and BRS’ Manne Srinivas Reddy… pic.twitter.com/1TfOd7KDzb

– ANI (@ANI) May 13, 2024

Lok Sabha Election Live Updates: Mock poll starts at polling booth no 136 in Bhawanipatana Assembly Constituency and Kalahandi Lok Sabha Constituency.

#WATCH | Kalahandi, Odisha: Mock poll starts at polling booth no 136 in Bhawanipatana Assembly Constituency and Kalahandi Lok Sabha Constituency.

There are a total of 21 parliamentary constituencies and 147 assembly constituencies in the state. Voting will be held in 4… pic.twitter.com/gaXcqTgBNS

– ANI (@ANI) May 13, 2024

Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Polling preparations are underway at the Kadapa Constituency’s Jayamahal Anganawadi Polling Booth No. 138 in Andhra Pradesh’s Kadapa.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy will also cast his vote from the polling booth. 

Congress’s YS Sharmila from INDIA alliance, TDP’s Chadipiralla Bhupesh Subbarami Reddy from NDA, and YSRCP’s YS Avinash Reddy are contesting elections from this seat.

YSRCP’s YS Avinash Reddy is the sitting MP from Kadapa.

#WATCH | Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh: Polling preparations are underway at the Kadapa Constituency’s Jayamahal Anganawadi Polling Booth No. 138.

Andhra Pradesh CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy will also cast his vote from the polling booth.

Congress’s YS Sharmila from INDIA alliance, TDP’s… pic.twitter.com/WJXUiXSXOT

– ANI (@ANI) May 13, 2024

Prominent candidates in the fray are: 

• Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav
• Union minister Giriraj Singh, TMC’s firebrand leader Mohua Moitra 
• AIMIM’s Asaduddin Owaisi
• Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury
• Former cricketer Yusuf Pathan of TMC
• Andhra Pradesh Congress president YS Sharmila 

• The fourth phase of voting for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections will take place today in 96 Lok Sabha constituencies across 10 states and Union Territories. 
• A total of 1,717 candidates are in the fray in this phase. 
• Polling will be held in all 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana, all 25 seats in Andhra Pradesh, 13 in Uttar Pradesh, five in Bihar, four in Jharkhand, eight in Madhya Pradesh, 11 in Maharashtra, four in Odisha, eight in West Bengal and one in Jammu and Kashmir.
• Voting will also take place in the Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency.
• More than 19 lakh polling officials have been deployed at 1.92 lakh polling stations for the over 17.70 crore eligible voters in this round.