Amid tight security and separatists' call for shutdown and poll-boycott, polling will be held in 15 Assembly segments of Jammu & Kashmir on Tuesday in the inaugural part of the five-phased Assembly elections. Five constituencies in adjacent districts of Bandipora and Ganderbal - Gurez, Sumbal, Bandipora, Kangan and Ganderbal - and four segments in ladakh-leh, Nubra, Kargil and Zanaskar - are going to polls besides six constituencies in Jammu region to decide the fate of 123 candidates.
While the sparsely populated ladakh region has least security concerns, heavy police and paramilitary contingents have been deployed in Ganderbal and Bandipora districts to ensure incident-free polling. The turnout in these constituencies has been phenomenal in the previous elections and is likely to set a precedent for the subsequent phases in rest of the Valley.
Deputy Inspector General of Police (north Kashmir) Ghulam Hasan Bhat said police have taken all measures to ensure incident-free and impartial polling in the region.
The authorities have either detained separatist leaders or put them under house-arrest to prevent their anti-poll campaign. Some local separatist activists have been rounded up and lodged in police stations before the polling process begins.
The campaigning in the constituencies has remained by and large peaceful. Bandipora threw a surprise in 2008 elections when, contrary to the public perception, hordes of voters turned up to cast their votes in the assembly elections, which were held shortly after the 2008 Amarnath land row that resulted into fall of the then coalition government.
The separatists had called for poll boycott and expected maximum response to their call following death of around 60 civilians in agitation that split the State on regional and communal lines. However, the turnout in Bandipora district, in the first of 8-phased elections surprised observers and keen Kashmir watchers.