Till August 5 last year, except for parliamentary elections, these refugees were barred from voting in Jammu and Kashmir's assembly, panchayat and urban local body polls.
A day after voters in the Baramulla Lok Sabha constituency exercised their franchise, some of them were thrashed for defying the separatist call for boycott of the elections, district officials said.
Take a look at the famous faces who exercised their democratic right.
The government is waiting for new currency to get into the system first and as and when there is near adequate circulation, the exchange facility could be withdrawn
No major glitches in electronic voting machines were reported and the voting passed off peacefully with high security observed at the 3,360 critical booths in 493 locations where more than 25,000 police personnel, nearly 13,000 home guards and 100 companies of paramilitary forces were deployed, officials said.
According to the Reserve Bank of India, the currency in circulation reduced by Rs 360,700 crore to Rs 1,426,900 crore during the week under review.
Congress says the notification required to be issued under the RBI Act for printing new currency has not been issued.
Reasi district of Jammu region recorded 75.20 per cent voting, the highest in the union territory, State Election Commissioner (SEC) K K Sharma said, adding that 50.53 per cent voter turnout was recorded in the third phase of the maiden DDC polls in J-K.
The fate of 237 candidates, including two ministers and a former CM, will be decided in this final phase.
Governor La Ganesan and Chief Minister N Biren Singh were among the early voters in their respective constituencies of Sagolband and Heingang.
Polling across 55 assembly constituencies assembly in nine districts got off to sluggish start at 7 am due to the cold and fog at several places.
Mamata telephoned his party chief Uddhav Thackeray and sought Sena's support in "voicing the concerns of the common man".
The highest polling of 72.35 per cent was recorded in Sirmour district followed by 68.48 per cent in Solan and 67.67 per cent in Una and 67.5 per cent in Lahaul and Spiti. The high-altitude district of Lahaul and Spiti had recorded 21.95 per cent, the lowest, till 1 pm, but polling was brisk as the sun came out.
Green-coloured ballot papers will be there for members of Parliament and pink for MLAs who vote in the election.
It was alleged that Sidhu violated the model code of conduct as he, along with his family, entered the premises of the booth in private cars.
Till 5 pm, Agra recorded 56.61 per cent polling, Aligarh 57.25 per cent, Baghpat 61.35 per cent, Bulandshahr 60,52 per cent, Gautam Buddh Nagar 54.77 per cent, Ghaziabad 54.77 per cent, Hapur 60.50 per cent, Mathura 58.51 per cent, Meerut 58.52 cent, Muzaffarnagar 62.14 per cent and Shamli 61.78 per cent, an EC report said.
Attacking BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav over his 'test of patriotism' tweet, Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant tells Rediff.com's Prasanna D Zore that patriotism doesn't mean you should waste your time in queues.
'Day by day, the queues will shorten.'
A large voter turnout of more than 80 per cent despite sporadic incidents of violence and allegations of vote fraud on Thursday marked the second phase of West Bengal assembly polls.
The IMD has predicted heavy rainfall over Karnataka and Kerala for the next few days.
The top five most mentioned Twitter accounts in tweets as on Thursday were those of Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) with 16,395 tweets, followed by @BJP4India (BJP's verified Twitter account) with 11,875, @RahulGandhi with 5,398, @INCIndia with 4,202 and @AmitShah with 3,496.
"Your money will be given to those select 15-20 industrialists," Rahul alleged.
Arora also said he is confident that the EC will be able to hold the next set of assembly polls on time and the internal exercise for those is already underway.
Nagaland Chief Electoral Officer Abhijit Sinha said the violence in Akuluto constituency in Zunheboto district left one dead and two injured.
The overall voting percentage in the bypolls to 51 assembly seats was nearly 56.84 per cent, the Election Commission said while releasing data available till 7 pm, adding that the polling passed off peacefully.
Out of the 280 constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir, 43 are going to polls in the second phase with 25 in Kashmir and 18 in Jammu division.
Over 86 lakh voters will decide the political fate of 284 candidates in this phase.
This was the first major election in the country amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Obviously, the women of Bihar were not intimidated by the pandemic and came out in large numbers to vote.
'When the story of Elections 2019 is told by an independent writer, the BJP's role in lowering electoral standards will be etched in indelible ink,' says Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
The fate of 720 candidates will be decided by 2.28 crore voters
A high voter turnout was recorded in West Bengal, Assam Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry assembly elections on Tuesday. The massive polling exercise following COVID-19 health protocol and involving lakhs of personnel began at 7 am and the last hour from 6 pm to 7 pm was set aside for COVID-19 patients and those under isolation. The counting of votes in the states will be held on May 2.
The final phase saw voting in all 13 seats of Punjab and an equal number of seats in Uttar Pradesh, nine in West Bengal, eight seats each in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, four in Himachal Pradesh, three in Jharkhand and the lone seat Chandigarh.
Guidelines have been issued by the Commission for safe conduct of the electoral exercise in the midst of the raging COVID-19 pandemic. These guidelines include lowering the maximum number of voters for a polling booth from 1,600 to 1,000, staggering the polling hours and extending postal ballot facility to those above 80.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged people to vote in large numbers. "Today, there are bypolls taking place in various places across India. I urge those voting in these seats to vote in large numbers and strengthen the festival of democracy," he said in a tweet.
How the demonetisation drives in India and Venezuela have played out.
Around 30,000 personnel have been deputed for poll duty as the state decides its fate today.
Voting is being held in 59 of the total 60 seats .
Counting of votes will take place on May 15.
Women will have a decisive say as chairpersons in seven of Jammu and Kashmir's 20 districts.
'Economic issues do not matter during elections; it is the emotional connect that helps swing votes.'
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