Anantnag, May 25 : A large number of voters came out to vote on Saturday in the Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha seat where 35.61 per cent voter turnout was witnessed till 1 pm.

The highest voter turnout of 52.74 per cent was witnessed in the Rajouri voting segment followed by Thanna Mandi at 46.69 per cent.

EC figures said that the Anantnag voting segment recorded 21.19 per cent: Anantnag West 24.20 per cent, Budhal (ST) 39.82 per cent, DH Pora 35.36 per cent, Devsar 28.50 per cent, Dooru 31.89 per cent, Kokernag (ST) 34.00 per cent, Kulgam 21.27 per cent, Mendhar 42.06 per cent, Nowshera 47.31per cent, Pahalgam 39.78 per cent, Poonch Haveli 46.52 per cent, Rajouri (ST) 52.74 per cent, Shangus - Anantnag East 27.08 per cent, Srigufawara - Bijbehara 27.00 per cent, Surankot (ST) 40.72 per cent, Thanna Mandi (ST) 46.60 per cent and Zainapora 27.79 per cent.

Voting segments with a higher number of turnout till 1 pm are in the Rajouri district of the Jammu region where the Gujjar-Bakarwal community forms a significant chunk of voters.

Mian Altaf Ahmad of the NC is regarded by the Gujjar-Bakarwal community as their religious/political head.

BJP J&K President, Ravinder Raina cast his vote in the Surankote voting segment while Mehbooba Mufti, former Chief Minister and PDP candidate cast her vote in the Bijbehara voting segment.

After fresh delimitation of electoral constituencies, two districts of Jammu division, Poonch and Rajouri were added to Valley's Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency while Pulwama district was deleted from this constituency and was made a part of the Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, just nine per cent voter turnout was recorded in Anantnag while Rajouri and Poonch polled 72 per cent votes.

Today's election is the first large democratic exercise in the Anantnag-Rajouri constituency after August 5, 2019, when articles 370 and 35A were abrogated and J&K was downgraded to the status of a UT.

South Kashmir districts of Anantnag, Kulgam and parts of Shopian form this constituency and have been the worst militancy-affected districts in the Valley.

The security forces have brought down militancy to its lowest ebb in these areas during the last four years.

Although Rajouri and Poonch districts still continue to witness terrorist attacks, the levels of terrorism even in those districts are nowhere near what these used to be till 2019.

These positive developments are expected to encourage voters to participate in large numbers in today's electoral process.

Extensive security arrangements with the deployment of large numbers of CAPFs and the local police have been made in the constituency to provide a safe, free and fearless environment to the voters.

/IANS