Unidentified gunmen on Friday shot at a District Development Council candidate in Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag district during the voting for the third phase of the elections, the Hindustan Times reported.

The candidate has been identified as Anees ul Islam. This is the first attack on an election candidate since the polling process began in November. Islam, who had recently joined the Altaf Bukhari-led Apni Party, was admitted to a hospital after the attack in Kokernag area, officials said. The police and the Indian Army were conducting an investigation at the site of the attack.

National Conference leader Omar Abdullah condemned the incident. “I hope and pray that he [Islam] survives the attack,” tweeted Abdullah. “Elections have always brought out the worst in those forces who have remained inimical to peace in Kashmir.”

A voter turnout of 43.03% was recorded in polls till 1 pm, according to the state Election Commission. Jammu region recorded a turnout of 60.52%, while Kashmir division saw a turnout of 25%. The highest turnout of 83.07% was recorded in Poonch and the lowest of 9.31% in Pulwama.

Voting for the third phase of the District Development Council elections in Jammu and Kashmir began at 7 am on Friday. The third phase will cover 33 constituencies – 17 from Jammu division and 16 from the Kashmir division, according to PTI.

A total of 305 candidates are contesting elections in the third phase. More than 7 lakh voters will decide their fate.

Eight seats in the Kashmir division are from the south region, The Indian Express reported. Four of these seats are from Pulwama and Shopian districts. Pulwama saw a poor voter turnout in the first two phases. It registered 6.70% turnout in the first phase and 8.67% in the second.

In North Kashmir, Sangrama will be a closely-watched seat. It will witness a triangular contest between People’s Alliance Candidate Suhail Bukhari, Shoaib Lone from Kashmir Apni Party and an independent candidate Irfan Hafeez.

In Wagoora, former Peoples Democratic Party leader Muzaffar Beig’s wife Safeena Beig will contest as an Independent against the People’s Alliance’s joint candidate.

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State Election Commissioner KK Sharma on Thursday announced that proper security arrangements had been made for all the constituencies, PTI reported. He also urged people to follow all coronavirus-related safety guidelines.

The first phase of the District Development Council elections in Jammu and Kashmir on November 28 saw a total voter turnout of 51.76%. The second phase on December 1 registered 48.62% turnout.

This is the first district council elections to take place in Jammu and Kashmir since the abrogation of special status granted to the erstwhile state under Article 370. It will be held in eight phases till December 19. The results will be declared on December 22.

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.

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.