Central Kashmir's Ganderbal district witnessed a voter turnout of 7.9 per cent while Srinagar district recorded 2.3 per cent till 12 noon in the fourth and last phase of the municipal elections in Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday.
Voting, which started at 6 am, recorded 6.4 per cent turnout in Ganderbal district and 1.6 per cent in Srinagar till 10 am. Voting will continue till 4 pm to elect representatives of 37 wards. The electorate, comprising a total of 250794 voters, will seal the fate of 156 candidates in the districts.
A total 38 candidates are in fray in 12 wards in the municipal committee Ganderbal with a total 8491 electorate exercising their franchise. Similarly, 113 candidates are in fray contesting for 24 wards of the Srinagar Municipal Corporation. A total 241043 electorate are exercising their franchise.
Repolling is being conducted at a polling station in Makhdoom Sahab (Ward No 41), where five candidates are in fray with a total electorate of 1260 voters.
In the wake of the polls, security has been beefed up further at all the polling stations and checkpoints have been set up. Vehicles and commuters are being searched thoroughly to ensure seamless completion of polls.
Among the three earlier polling phases, maximum voter turnout of 56.7 per cent was recorded in the first phase in the state while least voter turnout was registered in the third phase touching 16.4 per cent only. Counting of votes cast during all four phases will be done on October 20.
The fight is between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as the state's two major parties - National Conference (NC) and the People's Democratic Alliance (PDP) - have boycotted the elections over lack of clarity in the Centre's stand on Articles 35A which disallows outsiders from residing in the state, buying or owning immovable property in the state, settling permanently, or getting state government jobs.