J&K votes in panchayat polls

Voting was underway on Tuesday for the ninth and final phase of the panchayat polls in Jammu and Kashmir amid tight security.

Tuesday's polling is being held only in the Kashmir division in 452 polling stations.

Polling started at 8 a.m. and will end at 2 p.m. At least 346 polling stations have been categorised as "hypersensitive" in this phase.

A total of 430 candidates are in the fray for 55 sarpanch and 138 panch seats while 68 sarpanchs and 433 panchs have been elected unopposed in this phase.

A total of 68,745 voters can take part in the exercise on Tuesday for sarpanch constituencies and 20,688 for panch constituencies.

In the eighth phase, 79.9 per cent voting was witnessed across the state, with 85.1 per cent polling in Jammu and 49.6 per cent in Kashmir.

Panchayat polls were last held in Jammu and Kashmir in 2011.

--IANS

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