Helium balloons, carrying messages to encourage the electorate of the Jammu Lok Sabha constituency to come out to exercise their voting right in the second phase of polling on 26 April, dotted the skyline here on Wednesday.

District Magistrate and Returning Officer Sachin Kumar Vaishya said these balloons have been raised to spread awareness among the voters.

Vaishya, accompanied by Senior Superintendent of Police Vinod Kumar, briefed the zonal and sector magistrates, along with police officers, on ensuring the smooth conduct of the election process.

The contest for the Jammu seat is mainly between sitting BJP MP Jugal Kishore and working president of Congress Raman Bhalla although there are a total of 22 candidates in the fray.

Over 17.80 lakh voters are registered in the Jammu parliamentary constituency which is spread over 18 Assembly segments in four districts, including Reasi, Samba, Jammu, and Rajouri.

According to the figures provided by the Returning Officer, there are 17,80,835 registered voters in the Jammu constituency, including 9,21,095 males, 8,59,712 females, and 28 transgender electors. Among these, 37,822 (37,025 male and 797 female) are service voters.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has set up 2,416 polling stations across the constituency, including 18 Green Polling Stations, 46 Pink Polling Stations, and 18 PwD-manned polling stations.

Reasi district with three Assembly Constituencies, including Gulabgarh (ST), Reasi, and Shri Mata Vaishno Devi, has 23,52,62 voters including 12,33,23 male, 11,19,36 female, and three transgender voters. Among these, 1,393 are service voters (1,364 male, 29 female). The ECI has set up 425 polling stations across the district, including 97 vulnerable and 16 critical.

Samba district, comprising three Assembly Constituencies including Ramgrah (SC), Samba, and Vijaypur has 2,59,198 voters, including 1,32,861 male, 1,26,336 female, and one transgender voter. Among these, 10,269 (10,073 male, 196 female) are service voters. The ECI has set up 365 polling stations in the district, including 72 critical.

Similarly, Jammu district, comprising 11 Assembly Constituencies, including Bishnah (SC), Suchetgarh (SC), R S Pura-Jammu South, Bahu, Jammu East, Nagrota, Jammu West, Jammu North, Marh (SC), Akhnoor (SC) and Chhamb, has 11,89,389 electors, including 6,13,988 male, 5,75,378 female and 23 transgender voters. Among these are also 24,315 service voters (23,768 male, 547 female). The ECI has set up 1,488 polling stations across the district, including 38 vulnerable and 15 critical.

Likewise, the Rajouri district with only the Kalakote-Sunderbani Assembly segment falling in Jammu, has 96,986 voters (50,923 male, 46,062 female) and one transgender voter. Among these, 1,845 (1,820 male, 25 female) are service voters. The ECI has set up 138 polling stations in the Assembly Constituency, including 88 vulnerable and 14 critical.

The border RS Pura-Jammu South Assembly Constituency has the highest number of 1,24,744 voters (64,687 male, 60,054 female), and three transgender voters, including 1,592 service. The EC has set up 147 polling stations across this AC.

Similarly, the newly carved out Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Assembly segment of Reasi district has the lowest number of 55,737 voters (29,340 male, 26,397 female, including 271 service voters). The election authorities have set up 91 polling stations across the segment.