J-K Assembly Elections 2024: Voting in phase 2 across 26 seats today, check key candidates

Voting in the second phase of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly election 2024 will take place on Wednesday. More than 13,000 polling staff have been deployed at 3,500 polling stations. Voting will be held on 26 Assembly constituencies of Jammu and Kashmir today. 

There will be 239 candidates competing across 26 constituencies today. This phase also sees several political heavyweights such as former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah (from Budgam and Ganderbal), Apni Party's Altaf Bukhari (from Channapora), and BJP's J-K unit chief Ravinder Raina (from Rajouri).

The security forces personnel comprising police, armed police and central armed paramilitary forces left for the polling stations early morning, the officials said. They said a multi-tier security blanket has been thrown around each polling station to ensure the voting for the second phase is held in an atmosphere free of fear.

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The strong rooms -- where the electronic voting machines will be kept after the close of polls Wednesday -- have been secured and will be kept under round-the-clock digital surveillance. "To facilitate the voters for smooth and hassle-free electoral participation, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has established 3,502 polling stations in these segments. There are 1,056 urban polling stations and 2,446 rural polling stations," an official spokesman said.

He said all the polling stations will have a webcasting facility as part of Election Commission's efforts to ensure transparency in the polls. Elections in Jammu and Kashmir are being held in three phases. Voting for 24 seats in the first phase was held on September 18 while 26 seats will go to polls Wednesday in the second phase. The voting for 40 seats in third phase will be held on October 1 while counting of votes will be held on October 8.

(With inputs from PTI)