At least three people were killed and several injured after security forces opened fire on a stone-pelting mob that stormed a polling station in Budgam district in this Lok Sabha constituency on Sunday.
Hundreds of protestors stormed a polling station at Pakherpora in Chrar-e-Sharief area of Budgam district and ransacked the building, officials told PTI.
Security forces had to fire several warning rounds to disperse the mob which did not relent. Two of the deceased were later identified as 20-year-old Mohammad Abbas and 15-year-old Faizaan Ahmad Rather, the officials said, adding both died of bullet wounds.
Polling saw an an abysmally low 3.3 per cent turnout till 1100 hours. The BSF, deployed for security of the polling stations, fired live rounds as they were not provided with pellet guns, officials told the news agency.
Stone pelting incidents were reported from over two dozen other places across the three districts of Srinagar, Budgam and Ganderbal which constitute the Srinagar constituency, the officials said.
The Srinagar seat fell vacant after Peoples Democratic Party leader Tariq Hameed Karra resigned during last year’s unrest following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani.
Reacting to the reports of violence, former chief minister Omar Abdullah said he had never saw in his two decades of political career such a bad situation for elections and campaigning, and blamed the state government and Centre for such a situation.
Agency inputs
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