Jammu and Kashmir Urban Local Body Polls: In the first two hours of polling, less than two per cent of the electorate turned out to cast their votes on Monday in 83 wards of the urban local body (ULB) polls in Kashmir.
Till 9.00 am, at the 150 polling stations set up in 83 wards across Kashmir Valley, nearly 1600 voters have exercised their franchise, an official said.
In the valley, around 85,000 voters (including 40,800 women) are eligible to vote.
Out of 30,074 voters in three wards of Srinagar Municipal Corporation, only 417 turned up at heavily-fortified polling stations, reported news agency PTI.
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Polling is picking up in north Kashmir as more than 10 per cent of 4,700 voters cast their votes in the first two hours for Kupwara Municipal Committee, followed by 5.5 per cent in Handwara town. The poll percentage in Bandipora was an abysmal one per cent while Baramulla recorded around 0.8 per cent turnout, the official said, the news agency further reported.
On Monday, the voting is going on for the first phase.
There are in total four phases. The first phase of polling will be followed by the second phase on October 10 (covering 384 wards) and third phase covering 207 wards on October 13. The final phase will be on October 16, covering 132 wards.
The state government has declared a holiday in the poll-bound areas on Monday.
The last election to the municipal bodies in the state was held in 2005 through secret ballots and the five-year term expired in February 2010.
