A voter turnout of more than 61 percent was recorded in the first phase of assembly polls covering 24 segments across seven districts in Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday, the Election Commission said.
The final polling percentage can go up as data from some stations are yet to be compiled, and this also does not include postal ballots, the commission said.
Kishtwar district recorded the highest 80.14 percent polling followed by Doda (71.34 percent) and Ramban (70.55 percent) in the Chenab valley region of Jammu, the Election Commission said, quoting the latest information said.
In south Kashmir, Kulgam district led the turnout chart with 62.46 percent followed by Anantnag district (57.84 percent), Shopian district (55.96 percent) and Pulwama district (46.65 percent), the EC said.
This was the first assembly elections in J-K post abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019.
The last assembly elections were held in 2014.
"The Phase-1 of General Elections to the Legislative Assembly of J&K recorded an approximate voter turnout of 61. 11 percent as of 11:30 pm.
The same shall continue to be updated by the field level officers as the remaining polling parties keep returning, the Election Commission said in a press release late at night.
Encouraged by the sight of long lines of people waiting to exercise their franchise, officials hoped the turnout would be significantly higher by 6 pm when voting closes.
Polling began at 7 am amid tight security arrangements across the 24 constituencies spread over seven districts of the Union Territory. The polls are being held for the first time since the abrogation of Article 370.
Officials said the highest voting percentage so far among the 24 assembly segments of the Union territory was recorded in Inderwal at 80.06 per cent, followed by Padder-Nagseni at 76.80 per cent and Kishtwar at 75.04 per cent.
Doda West also recorded a high turnout of 74.14 per cent during the period.
In the Kashmir valley, the Pahalgam segment recorded the highest turnout of 67.86 per cent.
It was followed by D H Pora at 65.21 per cent, Kulgam at 59.58, Kokernag at 58 per cent and Dooru at 57.90 per cent.
The lowest -- 40.58 per cent -- was recorded in the Tral segment, they said, adding that the four constituencies in Pulwama district have not yet crossed the 50 per cent mark.
The other two phases will be held on September 25 and October 1, while the votes will be counted on October 8.
Notably, the BJP-led Union government abrogated Article 370 on August 5, 2019, which gave special status to J&K, and bifurcated the erstwhile state into two Union Territories -- J&K and Ladakh.
A voter turnout of 11.11 per cent was recorded in the first two hours of voting, according to officials.
Voters, especially women and the elderly lined up outside their respective polling booths early morning.
Long queues were seen at several booths even before the voting began at 7 am, officials said.
They said the voting gathered pace and queues got longer after the first hour as the morning breeze gave way to sunshine.
The voters said the people of Jammu and Kashmir were getting a chance to elect their assembly members after a long time and they were making the most of this opportunity.
"Today is a festival of democracy. We are electing our representatives after 10 years. A democratically elected government is better than other governments," Bashir Ahmad from Kulgam, said.
He said there were many issues confronting the people of Kashmir but the restoration of statehood was the most important.
"Apart from development, we are voting against what has been done to us. Our statehood has been snatched away, there is an onslaught on us in one way or the other every day. This is a vote against all that," Ahmad said.
All arrangements, including security-related, are in place and the polling across the 24 assembly segments is going on smoothly, the officials said.
In the first phase of the three-phase polls, seven districts of Jammu and Kashmir, located on either side of the Pir Panjal mountain range, are voting to choose their representatives.
Over 23 lakh voters will decide the fate of 219 candidates, including 90 Independents, who are running for 24 assembly segments -- eight in three districts of Jammu region and 16 in four districts of Kashmir valley.
The officials said a total of 14,000 polling staff will oversee the process at 3,276 polling stations.
Prominent candidates in Kashmir whose fate will be sealed on Wednesday include CPI (M)'s Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami, AICC general secretary Ghulam Ahmad Mir, National Conference's Sakina Itoo, and PDP's Sartaj Madni and Abdul Rehman Veeri.
PDP's Iltija Mufti, contesting from Srigufwara-Bijbehara, and the party's youth leader Waheed Para, from Pulwama, are also the contenders to watch for in the first phase.
In Jammu, trying their luck are former ministers Sajjad Kitchloo (NC), Khalid Najib Suharwardy (NC) Vikar Rasool Wani (Congress), Abdul Majid Wani (DPAP), Sunil Sharma (BJP), Shakti Raj Parihar (Doda west), and Ghulam Mohammad Saroori, a three-time MLA who is fighting as an Independent after he was denied ticket by DPAP which he had joined after quitting Congress in support of Ghulam Nabi Azad two years ago.
Former MLA Daleep Singh Parihar (BJP), former MLC Firdous Tak and Imtiyaz Shan (PDP), NC's Pooja Thakur, the sitting chairperson of district development council Kishtwar, BJP's young face Shagun Parihar, whose father Ajit Parihar and uncle Anil Parihar were killed by terrorists in November 2018, and Mehraj din Malik of AAP are among other prominent faces in the fray.
Among the constituencies going to the polls on Wednesday are Pampore, Tral, Pulwama, Rajpora, Zainapora, Shopian, DH Pora, Kulgam, Devsar, Dooru, Kokernag (ST), Anantnag West, Anantnag, Srigufwara-Bijbehara, Shangus-Anantnag East, Pahalgam, Inderwal, Kishtwar, Padder-Nagseni, Bhadarwah, Doda, Doda West, Ramban and Banihal.
