File photo of National Conference President Farooq Abdullah (Photo: REUTERS)
Srinagar: Internet services in three districts falling under the Srinagar parliamentary constituency that go to the polls on Sunday will be shut down as a precautionary measure to prevent the spread of rumours.
Srinagar, Budgam and Ganderbal, which form part of the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat, will have no internet connection amid reports that Pakistan-based groups were engaged in spreading disinformation, official sources said.
They said the ban would be removed immediately after polling ends in the Lok Sabha seat for which National Conference president Farooq Abdullah was having a virtual direct contest with ruling PDP’s Nazir Khan.
Stone-pelting incidents were reported from various parts of Budgam and Ganderbal area in which two police personnel were injured.
Crowds indulged in stone pelting in Chadoora, Beerwah, main town Budgam and Pandich and Wakoora in Ganderbal, official sources said, adding one CRPF constable was injured in Budgam and at Wakoora in Ganderbal.
Abdullah has pitched the bypoll as a “test of the integrity of the people in ridding the state of the opportunistic and unjust PDP-BJP alliance”. The former Union Minister said the bypoll was not a fight between NC and PDP but between the people of Kashmir and those who want to rule the state from Nagpur (RSS headquarters) and New Delhi.
(With PTI inputs)