The voting for the second phase of the District Development Council elections in Jammu and Kashmir began at 7 am on Tuesday amid a severe cold wave and tight security arrangements, PTI reported.

“Initial reports suggest that only a few people have so far turned out at polling stations due to early morning winter chill,” an official said. He added that the pace of voting is expected to pick up as the day progresses and temperature rises.

The first phase of voting on November 28 recorded saw a total voter turnout of 51.76%. This was the first district council elections in Jammu and Kashmir since the abrogation of special status granted to the erstwhile state under Article 370.

As many as 321 candidates are contesting in the second phase of the elections, and around 7.90 lakh people are eligible to vote. Out of the 280 constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir, 43 are going to polls in the Union Territory in the second phase. This included 25 in Kashmir and 18 in Jammu division.

The elections to fill up vacant seats of 1,088 sarpanchs and over 12,000 panch positions and Urban Local Bodies are also being held simultaneously. Eighty-three sarpanch and 331 panch constituencies are going to the polls in the second phase.

Authorities have declared all 1,300 polling stations in the Valley as sensitive. Election Commissioner KK Sharma had told reporters on Monday that additional security has been provided in the polling stations.

Voting will conclude on December 19 and the counting of votes will be held on December 22. The results of panchayat bye-elections will be declared on the polling day itself.

The Centre on October 17 amended the Jammu and Kashmir Panchayati Raj Act, 1989, for holding direct elections for DDCs, which will constitute the third-tier of the panchayati raj system.

Under the new rules, each district will be divided into 14 territorial constituencies by the respective deputy commissioners for electing their representatives, who will then among themselves elect the chairman and vice-chairman of these councils. The councils will replace District Development Boards, which when Jammu and Kashmir was a state, were chaired by a Cabinet minister or a minister of state and included MLAs, MLCs and MPs.

The Block Development Council elections, held immediately after the reading down of Article 370, had failed to revive any political activity. Before the BDC elections, panchayat elections were conducted by the then governor Satya Pal Malik in November-December 2018, which also met with little success as more than 60% panch and sarpanch berths remained vacant in Kashmir.