SRINAGAR- Nearly 40 per cent polling was recorded till 1 pm in the first ever District Development Council (DDC) elections in Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday, with Samba district recording the highest voting percentage at 59.29 and Pulwama the lowest at 6.08 so far, officials said.
The eight-phase DDC polls are also the maiden elections in Jammu and Kashmir since it was reorganised as a union territory last year, and it is being held along with byelections to panchayats.
“The first phase of the DDC elections recorded a voter percentage of 39.69 per cent across different constituencies spread over all districts of Jammu and Kashmir till 1:00 pm,” an official said.
Polling is underway in different blocks since 7 am and there is no immediate report of any untoward incident. It is scheduled to end at 2 pm, the official said.
The DDC election is being seen as a triangular contest among the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), the BJP and the Apni Party floated by former finance minister Altaf Bukhari.
In the first phase, as many as 1,475 candidates are in the fray, according to officials.
In Kashmir division, Shopian district has so far recorded the highest polling percentage at 47.44, according to figures released by the office of the Jammu and Kashmir Election Commissioner.
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