Srinagar: Voting started for the first phase of the civic polls in Jammu and Kashmir at 7 am on Monday. The election has been flawed with the boycott from the two key parties in the Valley – National Conference (NC) and People’s Democratic Party (PDP). Apart from these threats from terror outfits also marred the polls but amid a heavy security cover, polling began for 422 of the state’s 1,100 municipal wards in the first of the four phases of the civic polls today.

Here are visuals of People queued outside a polling booth in Rajouri to cast their votes in the first phase of urban local body elections.

Voting began in districts of Anantnag-4 wards, Budgam-1 ward, Bandipore-16 wards, Baramulla-15, Jammu-153, Kargil-13, Kupwara-18, Leh-13, Poonch-26, Rajouri-59 & Srinagar-3 wards, in the first of the four phases of urban local bodies elections.

Meanwhile, mobile services were called off in South Kashmir in light of the elections, news agency ANI reported and mobile internet speed had been reduced to 2G in other parts of the Valley.

Total 422 municipal wards in the state in which 149 seats are in the Valley, 26 are in Ladakh, Jammu and Pirpanjal region. Nearly 2,990 candidates are contested for the polls, the last date of which is October 16. Voting started at 7 am and will conclude at 4 pm. Worth mention here almost 240 candidates have already been elected unopposed, mostly from the Kashmir Valley region.