Polling is underway for the fourth phase of District Development Council (DDC) elections in Jammu and Kashmir.
Voting, which began at 7 AM, will end at 2 PM.
Polling is taking place for 34 constituencies – 17 each in Kashmir and Jammu divisions.
While 138 candidates including 48 women are in the fray in Kashmir division, 111 contestants including 34 women in the fray in Jammu division.
Bypolls to 50 vacant seats of Sarpanch and 216 Panchs are also underway in the union territory.
In view of Covid-19 pandemic, adequate arrangements have been put in place to ensure safety of the polling personnel as well as voters.
Special polling stations have been set up at Jammu and Udhampur to facilitate voting by Kashmiri migrants.
AIR correspondent reports, polling commenced at 7 amid severe cold. All arrangements are in place for smooth and peaceful polling and it is progressing in an orderly manner.
249 candidates are in the fray and a total of 7,17,322 voters are going to decide their fate.
In all, 1910 polling stations have been set up for today’s polling of which 1129 are in Kashmir division and 781 in Jammu division.
In earlier three phases of this eight phased process, over 50% polling has been recorded in 119 DDC constituencies.
The process so far has remained completely peaceful.