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Over 23 lakh voters will decide the fate of 219 candidates, including 90 Independents, who are running for 24 assembly segments — eight in three districts of Jammu region and 16 in four districts of Kashmir valley.
Voting began for the assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday, first time since the abrogation of Article 370, as 24 constituencies spread over seven districts of the Union Territory went to polls in Phase 1 amid tight security arrangements. This is the maiden assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir in a Union Territory setup — also the first poll to elect an assembly in the last 10 years. The Centre abrogated Article 370, that gave special status to J-K, and bifurcated the erstwhile state into two UTs – J-K and Ladakh — on August 5, 2019. All arrangements, including security related, are in place and the polling began at 7 am across the 24 assembly segments in Jammu and Kashmir. In the first phase of the three-phase polls, seven districts of Jammu and Kashmir, located on either side of Pir Panjal mountain range, are voting to choose their representatives.
Over 23 lakh voters will decide the fate of 219 candidates, including 90 Independents, who are running for 24 assembly segments — eight in three districts of Jammu region and 16 in four districts of Kashmir valley. According to the Election Commission (EC), a total of 23,27,580 electors are eligible to vote in phase 1, comprising 11,76,462 male, 11,51,058 female, and 60 third gender electors.
The official said a total of 14,000 polling staff will oversee the process at 3,276 polling stations. Officials said the security arrangements include multi-tier forces from the Central Armed Paramilitary Forces (CAPF), Jammu and Kashmir Armed Police, and J-K Police.
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