Counting begins amid tight security for J&K's five LS seats

Srinagar, June 4: Counting of votes for the five Lok Sabha constituencies of J&K started on Tuesday amid tight security and under the hawk-eye supervision of the EC authorities.

Counting started as scheduled at 8 a.m. in all the nine counting centres established for the five constituencies of Srinagar, Baramulla, Anantnag-Rajouri, Kathua-Udhampur and Jammu.

The counting for the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat started at the Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC) on the banks of the Dal Lake in Srinagar city. A thick blanket of security comprising local police and the CAPFs has been thrown around the counting centre to ensure a smooth, fair and uninterrupted counting process.

The main contenders for the Srinagar seat are Syed Ruhullah Mehdi of the NC and Waheed ur Rehman Parra of the PDP.

For the Baramulla constituency, counting started at the government boys' degree college in Baramulla town. The contest is triangular in this constituency between Omar Abdullah of the NC, Sajad Gani Lone of the PC and Engineer Rashid of Awami Itihad Party (AIP).

Counting for the Anantnag-Rajouri seat started at two places, government boys degree college in Anantnag town and government postgraduate degree college in Rajouri town.

The main contest in this constituency is between Mian Altaf Ahmad of the NC and Mehbooba Mufti of the PDP.

Counting for the Kathua-Udhampur seat was happening at Udhampur town and Kathua town. The main contest in this constituency is between Dr Jitendra Singh of the BJP and Choudhary Lal Singh of the Congress party.

Counting for the Jammu Lok Sabha seat started at MAM degree college and the government Polytechnic college in Jammu city. The main contest in this constituency is between Jugal Kishore Sharma of the BJP and Raman Bhalla of the Congress.

Both Dr Jitendra Singh and Jugal Kishore Sharma are seeking re-election for the third consecutive term from their constituencies.

One counting centre for migrant voters of Srinagar, Baramulla and Anantnag-Rajouri constituencies has been set up at J&K House in New Delhi.

Early trends for all the 5 Lok Sabha seats are likely to become available around 8 a.m.