Make Festival of Democracy a Success: PM Modi's Message for Voters As J&K Votes for 3rd Phase Today

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged the voters of Jammu and Kashmir to contribute towards making the festival of democracy a success as the Union Territory votes for third and final phase of assembly elections today, October 1. The voting process began at 7am and will conclude at 6pm.

In a post on X, PM Modi wrote, “Today is the third and last round of voting in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections. I request all voters to come forward and cast their votes to make the festival of democracy a success."

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He expressed hope that apart from first time voters, women would also vote in large numbers.

"I am confident that apart from the young friends who are going to vote for the first time, women power will also participate in the voting in large numbers,” he further tweeted in Hindi.

Meanwhile, a comprehensive security strategy had been implemented at each polling station to ensure smooth polling process.

High-Stakes Elections

Nearly four million people in the UT are eligible to cast their votes to determine the future of 415 candidates, including 2001 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru’s brother Ajaz, Peoples Conference (PC) chief Sajad Gani Lone and former deputy chief ministers Tara Chand and Muzaffar Beig. 40 seats are up for grabs in the third and final phase of the region’s first assembly elections in a decade.

As per Election Commission (EC) data, 24 of the 40 seats across seven districts are in Jammu and the remaining 16 are in the Valley region. Over 3.9 million voters are eligible to exercise their franchise at 5,060 polling stations and over 20,000 staff were mobilised to supervise the voting process during this phase.

The earlier phases of the election saw robust turnout, with 61.38 per cent participation in the first phase on September 18 and 57.31 per cent in the second phase on September 25. The election results are scheduled to be announced on October 8.