First phase of Jammu and Kashmir DDC election sees 52% turnout; Reasi registers highest polling at 74.62%

Srinagar: In the first electoral exercise in Jammu and Kashmir since the abrogation of Article 370, nearly 52 percent turnout was recorded on Saturday in the maiden District Development Council (DDC) polls. The first round of polling on Saturday in the eight-phase DDC election passed off peacefully, except for a minor incident of stone-pelting in Kulgam. State Election Commissioner KK Sharma told reporters that 51.76 percent of the 700,842 eligible voters exercised their franchise during the voting which began at 7.00 am and ended at 2.00 pm. Reasi in Jammu recorded the highest voter turnout of 74.62 percent while militancy-infested Pulwama witnessed the least voter participation at 6.7 percent. Sharma said the voting was peaceful across the Union territory, barring one incident of stone-pelting that took place in Kulgam district of South Kashmir. In the first phase of the DDC elections, voting was held in 43 constituencies, including 25 in Kashmir, and 1,475 candidates were in the fray, according to officials. It is the first election since the Centre scrapped Article 370 that gave special status to J-K in August last year and bifurcated the state into UTs.