A Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) candidate was injured when angry protesters attacked him with stones in Bandipora district of Jammu and Kashmir on Monday.
In the first of the four-phase elections, eight districts of the Kashmir division, including Leh and Kargil, will vote Monday to elect representatives to 15 municipal councils and committees, including three wards of the Srinagar Municipal Corporation.
A Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) candidate was injured when angry protesters attacked him with stones in Bandipora district of Jammu and Kashmir on Monday.
Adil Ahmad Buhru, who is contesting from Ward-15, sustained minor injuries when some youth pelted stones at him near Dachigam polling booth this afternoon. Buhru was on his way to the booth to cast his vote.
“He has received minor injuries in a stone-pelting incident at Dachigam booth when he was on way to cast his vote,” sources said.
"Buhroo has suffered minor injuries but is stable," said BJP spokesperson Altaf Thakur.
The Municipal polls in Jammu and Kashmir that is taking place after a gap of 13 years, on Monday witnessed long queues in Jammu, Rajouri and Poonch districts while people barely arrived in the valley booths that wore a deserted look.
Enthusiastic voters lined up outside the polling stations in Gandhi Nagar, R.S.Pura, Arnia, Jurian, Khour, Akhnoor, Bishnah, Nowshera, Surankote, Kalakote, and at many other places from 7 a.m., as the polling began.
In the valley, the scene was just the opposite as the first phase of civic polls began amid boycott calls by the two key parties in the state -- the National Conference and the People's Democratic Party.
A total of 218 votes were cast in the first two hours for the Baramulla Municipal Council, a poll official said.
A municipal ward in Badgam registered just four votes till 9 a.m., while eight votes were cast at one of the polling stations in Bandipora district, which registered 187 votes in two hours, the official said.
Kupwara registered 545 votes in 11 wards during the same time, while Handwara, where one of the prominent voters was MLA Sajjad Gani Lone, registered 263 votes.
In south Kashmir's Anantnag, few voters turned out in Kokernag, Qazigund, Achabal and Devsar.
Reports from Leh and Kargil towns of Ladakh region said biting cold kept voters away, though the process was expected to pick ip as the day progressed and warmed up. Polling will end at 4 p.m.
Elections are being held in 422 of the state's 1,145 municipal wards under heavy security.
As many as 1,204 candidates are in the fray for the four-phased municipal election, which will end on October 16. Counting of votes will take place on October 20.
IANS