Srinagar bypolls
Polling officials sit as they wait for voters to turn up at an empty polling station during a re-polling in the Srinagar parliamentary constituency in Wathora on the outskirts of Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir on April 13, 2017.Reuters

The poll process for the Srinagar Lok Sabha by-election, which has been fraught with problems from the word get-go, will see its culmination on Saturday, April 15, with the counting taking place and the results being declared. 

The total voter turnout, despite repolling in 38 booths on Thursday, is just above 7 percent. what remains to be seen is whether National conference leader and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah wins this election: It is more of a prestige issue for him. His opponent is Nazir Ahmad Khan of the People's Democratic Party (PDP). There are seven other candidates in the fray. 

Bypolls in Srinagar were necessitated by the resignation of PDP MP Tariq Ahmad Karra, who stepped down in protest against the Central government and Parliament's "failure" to end violence in J&K, which had started after the death of terrorist Burhan Wani. 

Here are the LIVE updates of the counting: 

4:15 pm IST: Farooq Abdullah thanks people for handing him a win. 

3:37 pm IST: Farooq Abdullah wins Srinagar byelection by more than 10,000 votes. 

3:30 pm IST: The lead is closer to 10,000 again, and Farooq Abdullah is even closer to victory. 

3:10 pm IST: The lead is narrowed again, but Farooq Abdullah seems to be on the home stretch. 

2:45 pm IST: Farooq Abdullah has now take a lead of more than 10,000 votes. 

2 pm IST: The lead narrows, but not enough to give Nazir Ahmad Khan any hope. 

12:40 pm IST: The lead is now over 10,000. 

12:20 pm IST: Abdhullah has now extended his lead beyond 9,700. And almost all votes that were cast have been counted. There is little chance of Nazir Ahmad Khan catching up now. 

12:02 pm IST: some people are already announcing a win for Farooq Abdullah. 

11:50 am IST: The lead is now up to 9,200!

11:45 am IST: It seems Farooq Abdullah has extended his lead to near-assailable proportions. 

11:20 am IST: And Abdullah Sr seems to have extended his lead even further!

11:10 am IST: Former J&K chief minister Farooq Abdullah now reportedly leads by 5,000 votes. 

11 am IST: Farooq abdullah is reported to have taken a lead of 3,000 votes. The trend is clear. The NC looks set to win this Lok Sabha seat. 

10:40 am IST: We are just about halfway through with the counting, and Farooq Abdullah leads by around 2,200 votes. 

10:20 am IST: Farooq Abdullah maintains his lead of around 2,100 votes after the end of the third round of counting.

9:40 am IST: Farooq Abdullah now leads by around 2,000 votes. 

9:20 am IST: Looks like Farooq Abdullah has taken a healthy lead of more than a thousand votes! 

9:10 am IST: No vote has been cast through postal ballots. 

9:05 am IST: Farooq Abdullah has a slim lead of 180 votes.

8:45 am IST: And the first round of counting is complete. 

8:35 am IST: It seems mediapersons have not been allowed to enter the counting venue — Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC) — despite having the requisite permits. 

8:20 am IST: The couting could face some snags, because many EVMs were stolen and some were damaged in the violence on the first day of polling on April 9, J&K Chief Electoral Officer Shantmanu had told IBTimes India. 

8 am IST: Counting begins for the Srinagar Lok Sabha by-election. The process should not take much time, because not too many votes need to be counted. 

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