Polling for the first phase of panchayat elections began at 8 am in Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday amidst stringent security arrangements.
The voting will end at 2 pm with 1,303 polling stations in Kashmir and 1,993 in Jammu, officials said.
Moderate polling was witnessed in the early hours of the first phase of panchayat election in Kashmir Valley on Saturday as nearly nine per cent of voters exercised their franchise till 10 AM.
"A total of 8.9 per cent of the electorate cast their votes at 283 polling locations across the valley till 10 AM," an official said.
They said 12,104 votes were polled in the first two hours of the poll conducted in 16 blocks in six districts of the valley.
687 polling stations have been categorized as "hypersensitive", including 491 in Kashmir division and 196 in Jammu division, they said.
In the first phase polling, 85 sarpanch and 1,676 panch have been elected unopposed while voting is taking place on the remaining 420 sarpanch and 1,845 panch seats, for which 5,585 candidates are in the fray, the officials added.
They said that there are 4,45,059 electors for sarpanch seats and 2,72,792 for panch constituencies.
Fifteen districts of the state -- seven in Jammu region, six in the valley, two in Ladakh - were going to the polls. There were a total of 3,296 polling stations - 1,303 in the valley and 1,993 in the Jammu region.
In Jammu region, Saturday's polls were being held in Doda, Ramban, Rajouri, Kishtwar, Kathua, Samba and Jammu district while in the valley it was taking place in Baramulla, Kupwara, Bandipora, Ganderbal, Badgam and Srinagar districts.
All necessary arrangements are in place for the smooth conduct of the polls, the officials said, adding massive security arrangements, including the deployment of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF), have been made to ensure a peaceful election.
The government has declared a holiday on the day of poll in the panchayat areas where polls are taking place so as to enable the voters to cast their vote.
While the polls are being conducted on the non-party basis, the NC, PDP and the CPI(M) have announced to stay away from the electoral exercise due to the legal challenge to Article 35-A of the Constitution in the Supreme Court.
The NC and the PDP have asked the Centre to make its stand clear in the apex court on the constitutional provision and urged it to defend its continuation in the court.
They had also boycotted the municipal polls which were conducted last month.
Separatists in Kashmir Valley have called for the boycott of the polls and asked people to observe a shutdown on Saturday.
This is the first of the nine-phased panchayat polls.
(With Agency Inputs)
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