HEADLINES QUOTE UNQUOTE YEH HAI INDIA PIC OF THE DAY POLL ARCHIVES FEEDBACK SEARCH REDIFF
NEWSLINKS US EDITION NEWS DEAR REDIFF THE STATES ARCHIVES Special Offer Gift your parents good health
Mukhtar Ahmad in Srinagar
Despite a half-hearted attempt by militants to disrupt polling in the Jammu parliamentary constituency, approximately 44 per cent of the electorate exercised their franchise.
State chief electoral officer Pramod Jain said that Rajouri district recorded the highest polling with 45 per cent, followed by Poonch with 44 per cent and Jammu with 43 per cent.
Polling in Jammu city started on a dull note before picking up in the afternoon.
The fight in this prestigious constituency is mainly between the ruling National Conference candidate Talib Hussain and the BJP's Dr Nirmal Singh.
The bypoll was necessitated by the death of BJP MP Vaid Vishnu Dutt.
Meanwhile, militants fired indiscriminately at some polling booths in the border district of Rajouri in what appeared to be a half-hearted attempt to disrupt polling, Jain said.
He said that one 18-year-old was injured in the firing, which went on for an hour.
"It was more of a show of strength rather than a serious effort to disrupt the polls," Jain told newspersons in Jammu on Thursday evening.
Paramilitary troops and state police had been deployed in strength in Rajouri and Poonch districts to ensure peaceful polling.
