Most of the wards in the third phase of polling fall in the separatist hotbed of downtown city and south Kashmir.
The trend of low voter turnout continued in the ongoing civic polls in Kashmir continued Saturday as only 1.3 per cent of the 1.62 lakh electorate exercised their franchise in the first three hours of polling which began at 6.00 am.
Most of the wards in the third phase of polling fall in the separatist hotbed of downtown city and south Kashmir.
The 20 wards of Srinagar Municipal Corporation, where voting is underway, have witnessed only 0.8 per cent of the 1.53 lakh voters turn up at the polling stations, officials said.
In Anantnag district, only 100 of the 5,469 votes have been polled in the first three hours of polling, the officials said.
However, heavy polling is going on in Uri municipal committee of Baramulla district where 908 of the 3,552 voters have already cast their votes. The poll percentage in the first three hours of polling was 25.6 per cent. There are 365 candidates in the fray for 96 wards of eight urban local bodies for the third phase comprising a total electorate of 1,93,990 electors.
The government has declared holiday on the day of poll in the municipal areas going to polls so as to enable the voters to cast their vote.
The officials said massive security arrangements have been put in place for the smooth conduct of the polls.
They said additional poll staff has been deployed at polling stations with large number of electors.
A thick security blanket has been thrown around the polling stations, while security forces are carrying out area domination exercises over the past couple of days for ensuring incident-free election, the officials said.
Municipal elections, covering 79 municipal bodies with an electorate of about 17 lakh, are being held in four phases. The last phase will take place on Tuesday.
A total of 3,372 nominations have been filed for 1145 wards.
57% voter turnout was recorded in the first phase with only little over 8% voters turning up to the polling booths in Kashmir Valley on Monday. The restive valley witnessed a mere 3.4 per cent voter turnout in the second phase, even as the Jammu division and Bandipora district of North Kashmir recorded brisk voting, pushing the overall turnout to 31.3 per cent in the second phase of Municipal polls on Wednesday.
There is little hope of any change in the trend of low voter turnout in the Valley in the third phase. Of the 44 wards going to polls on Saturday, 20 fall in Srinagar city's downtown area, where the voter turnout has been generally low since the eruption of militancy in the state in 1989.
The wards in downtown city going to polls are Khanqah-e-Mualla, Maharajgunj, Jamia Masjid, Makhdoom Sahib, Khwaja Bazaar, Aqilmir Khanyar, Rozabal, Daulatabad, Islamyarbal, Nawab Bazaar, Nawa Kadal, Safakadal, Rathpora, Edigah, Palpora and Tarabal.
Ten other wards in the civil lines area of the city, where polling will be held on Saturday, are Lal Chowk, Rajbagh, Ikhrajpora, Mehjoor Nagar, Natipora, Chanapora, Budshah Nagar, Baghat Barzulla, Hyderpora and Rawalpora.
The fourth phase of polling covering 132 Wards will take place on October 16. The counting of votes will take place on October 20.
The last poll to the Municipal bodies in the state was held in 2005 through ballots and the five-year term expired in February 2010.
The polls were announced last month but two major political parties -- the National Conference (NC) and the PDP -- boycotted the elections accusing the Centre of not taking a firm stand on the protection of Article 35A of the Constitution which is facing a legal challenge in the Supreme Court.
(With PTI inputs)
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 "Voting underway for the third phase of urban local body polls, in Baramulla's Uri")
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