Sajjad Gani Lone, who is fighting elections for this Lok Sabha seat in Jammu and Kashmir, Wednesday voted in his ancestral town of Handwara.
People's Conference chairman Sajjad and his mother came to the government girls' higher secondary school in Handwara around 9 a.m. and cast their vote. Handwara is the ancestral town of Sajjad's family and his father, the slain separatist leader Abdul Gani Lone.
"My participation in the elections is a change of strategy. I am confident the people will vote for me," Sajjad said after casting his vote.
Sajjad is pitted against ruling National Conference (NC) candidate Sharief-ud-Din Shariq and Muhammad Dilawar Mir of the opposition People's Democratic Party (PDP).
Voters came out in fairly large numbers in Handwara to exercise franchise as voting continued peacefully during the first three hours in both Baramulla and Ladakh constituencies Wednesday.