The people in Jammu and Kashmir are braving cold to come out in large numbers to vote in the second phase of District Development Council (DDC) election. As per the data available till 9 am, 6.61 per cent turnout has been recorded so far in DDC polls. Long queues can be seen in Kashmir Division and hilly areas of Jammu division.M Forty three constituencies are going under polling in the second phase of DDC elections. These include 25 seats in the Kashmir division and 18 in Jammu.
In Kashmir division, Kupwara has voting percentage of 3.54%, Bandipora 15.56%, Baramulla 1.88%, Ganderbal 2.44%, Srinagar 8.33%, Budgam 2.09%, Pulwama 0.71%, Shopian 2.11%, Kulgam 1.89%, Anantnag 4.47% upto 9.00 am. Similarly, in Jammu division, Kishtwar has voting percentage of 8.49%, Doda 9.08%, Ramban 6.39%, Reasi 10.90%, Udhampur 9.26%, Kathua 10.45%, Samba 17.27%, Jammu 9.80%, Rajouri 9.06% and Poonch 13.49% upto 9 am.
The polling began at 7 am and will continue till 2 pm. There are a total of 321 candidates in the electoral fray — 196 from the Kashmir Division and 125 from Jammu. Out of 7,95,118 voters, 3,88,273 are from Jammu Division and 4,06,845 are from Kashmir. Kashmir Division has 2,12,024 male voters and 1,94,821 women, whereas Jammu has 2,04,721 male electors and 1,83,553 female voters. The sarpanch bypolls are being conducted in 83 constituencies and total 223 (151 male and 72 female) candidates are in the fray. The panch bypolls are being held in 331 constituencies with 709 candidates (552 males and 157 females) in the fray. There are 2,142 polling stations — 837 in the Jammu Division and 1,305 in Kashmir.