Kupwara district of Kashmir Division recorded the highest voter turnout of 14.8 per cent till 10 AM during the ongoing ninth phase of Panchayat polls.

However, the polling was recorded abysmally low in the Ganderbal, Anantnag and Pulwama districts with 7.2 per cent, 7.1 per cent and 0.9 per cent respectively.

Budgam was placed second in the list with 12.2 per cent voter turnout followed by Baramulla with 10.9 per cent and Bandipora 7.5 per cent.

The voting which commenced at 8 am will conclude at 2 pm. The final result will come later in the day.

According to the Chief Electoral Officer Jammu and Kashmir, 430 candidates are in the fray for 55 sarpanch and 138 panch seats, while 68 sarpanches and 433 panch have been elected unopposed for this phase. 68745 electorates are eligible for voting for sarpanch constituencies whereas it is 20688 for panch constituencies. In this phase, 452 polling stations are being set up of which 346 have been categorised as hypersensitive.

As per the Chief Electoral Officer, Basic Minimum Facilities (BMF) have been ensured in all the polling stations for facilitating the voters and security arrangements have been made including the deployment of Central Armed Police Forces.

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