Srinagar: Over 6.5 per cent of the 13.12 lakh electorate cast their votes on Thursday in the first two hours of polling in Baramulla Lok Sabha constituency in Jammu and Kashmir, officials said. The seven assembly segments in Baramulla district registered a turnout of 5.8 per cent in the first two hours of polling which began at 7 am, the officials said.

They said Bandipora district, which has three assembly segments, recorded a poll percentage of nearly six per cent during the corresponding period while Kupwara recorded a turnout of eight per cent so far. Baramulla constituency will send a first time parliamentarian to the Lok Sabha as none of the nine candidates in the fray have earlier been elected to either Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha.
Those in the fray include Muhammad Akbar Lone of National Conference, Farooq Ahmad Mir of Congress, Raja Aijaz Ali of People's Conference, Mohammad Maqbool War of BJP, Jahangir Khan of NPP, Abdul Qayoom Wani of PDP and independent candidates Javid Ahmad Qureshi, Syed Najeeb Shah Naqvi and Abdul Rashid Sheikh.