"There is a huge rush of devotees to the shrine this year. Only today, around 40,000 devotees have registered for darshan," an official of the Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board (MVDSB) told PTI.
He said that with summer vacation still on, the number of devotees is expected to swell in the coming days.
"So far 40,99,384 pilgrims have visited the shrine this year, whereas in the corresponding period last year only 36,88,478 devotees had paid obeisance at the shrine. This is an increase of 4,10,906," he said.
Last year, a record of over one crore devotees had visited the shrine.