Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah addressing a rally in Pulwama (PTI photo)
Braving the cold, nearly 12 per cent people came out to vote this morning as large parts of the Kashmir Valley are polling today in the shadow of serial terror attacks on Friday in which 12 security personnel and one civilian were killed. Voting is taking place in three Kashmir districts - Budgam, Pulwama and Baramulla.
Here are the latest developments:
At many places, voters lined up at polling stations much before the start of the voting time at 8 AM.
While Beerwah in Budgam district registered 18.16 per cent polling, Sopore saw only four per cent voting till 10 AM, the officials said.
Uri saw over 10 per cent polling, Rafiabad 12 per cent while Gulmarg saw over 15 per cent voting. Chadoora recorded 15.30 per cent, Budgam 15.88 per cent, Khan Sahib 16.85, Charari Sharief 13.54 per cent, Tral 5.41 per cent, Pampore 12.28 per cent, Pulwama 7.62 and Rajpora 13 per cent, the officials said.
Police said a petrol bomb was hurled by unidentified men at a polling station in Gulmarg constituency. No casualties were reported in the incident. Barring this incident, polling across all 16 constituencies of the state, was going on peacefully.
Among the areas voting today are Uri, Sopore and Tral, where terrorists struck on Friday. The worst attack was at Uri, where terrorists sneaked into an army camp and killed nine soldiers and three policemen. Grenade attacks took place in Tral on Friday and Sunday.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who is seeking re-election in the third round of staggered elections in Jammu and Kashmir, has blamed the terror strikes on hype over the turnout, saying it was like "walking into a tiger's cage and pulling its tail."
On Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a rally in Srinagar - the first by the BJP in over a decade - and in Jammu's Samba. "The finger that presses the EVM (Electronic Voting Machine) button is stronger than the one on the AK-47 trigger," PM Modi said, congratulating people for defeating "the bullet with the ballot."
Besides Mr Abdullah, who is contesting from Beerwah in Budgam, three state ministers and 10 more lawmakers are among 144 candidates today. The ruling National Conference holds only four of the 16 seats going to polls; the opposition PDP represents nine.
Elections are also being held in 17 of the 81 seats in Jharkhand today. The constituencies are spread over eight districts -- Ranchi, Hazaribagh, Bokaro, Chatra, Seraikella/Kharsawan, Ramgarh, Kodarma and Giridih.
The next phase of elections - the fourth - will be held on December 14. The counting of votes is on December 23.
