Srinagar, November 17: First of the nine-phased Jammu & Kashmir panchayat elections begun on Saturday. In phase-1 of the polls, 4,584 rural civic seats are being contested, spread across six districts of Kashmir Valley, two in Ladakh and seven in Jammu region. A total of 6,378 candidates are in the fray.

Of the 4,584 civic seats, 427 candidates are vying for the 536 Sarpanch Halqas post, whereas, the remainder are contesting for the 4,048 Panch wards. Full Schedule of J&K Panchayat Polls 2018.

The districts which have went to polls are: Bandipora, Kupwara, Baramulla, Ganderbal, Budgam, Kargil, Leh, Kishtwar, Ramban, Udhampur, Kathua, Rajouri and Poonch. Voting is scheduled to be conducted between 8am to 2pm.

Similar to the urban local body elections held last month, the panchayat polls did not witness the participation of two major regional parties - the National Conference (NC) and the People's Democratic Party (PDP) - along with the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

The poll boycott was announced by the above parties as the Centre refrained from clearing their stand on Article 35(A) of the Constitution, which guarantees special status to J&K.

As seen in the municipal polls last month, the voter turnout is expected to remain low in Kashmir Valley. In Jammu and Ladakh, the administration is hopeful of a high turnout as the panchayat elections are being conducted for the first time since 2011.

The separatist conglomerate of All Parties Hurriyat Conference (AHPC) had appealed the J&K electorate to boycott the elections, whereas, the militant groups, including the Hizbul Mujahideen, have threatened to target those who participate in the elections.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 17, 2018 09:09 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).