J&K: 3rd phase of voting for Assembly elections today

The stage is set for the third and final voting phase in the ongoing Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday.

More than 20,000 polling staff have been mobilised across seven districts of the Union Territory for the last round of polls that will decide the electoral fate of 415 candidates including two former deputy chief ministers Tara Chand and Muzaffar Beig.

The highlight of the voting will be the participation of west Pakistani refugees, Valmiki Samaj and the Gorkha community who got the voting rights in the Assembly, urban local bodies and panchayat elections only after the abrogation of Article 370. They have earlier voted in block development council and district development council polls in 2019 and 2020 respectively. Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), Jammu zone, Anand Jain, said adequate security arrangements have been put in place in the poll-bound areas to ensure "terror-free and peaceful" polling.

Amid tight security arrangements, thousands of election staff along with poll material left their respective district headquarters this morning to take positions at their designated polling stations by this evening.