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The counting of votes for the recently concluded municipal polls began in Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday. The counting is being done for 52 civic bodies across the state.
Jammu/Srinagar: The counting of votes for the recently concluded municipal polls in 52 civic bodies is underway in Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday. The counting began at 8 am, and the results will be declared later in the day.
Heavy security arrangements have been put in place for counting across the state. A very low voter turnout was witnessed in the Valley but Jammu and Ladakh recorded heavy polling. The overall voting percentage for these polls in the state was 35.1 per cent.
The elections are a direct contest between the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress. A large number of independents are also in the fray. The National Conference and the PDP did not participate in the polls. The urban local bodies polls in Jammu and Kashmir were held after a gap of 13 years, with the last elections being conducted in 2005.
Here are the latest updates from the counting:
## As per the results coming in at 11 am, the Congress has won in Ganie Mohalla, Khanpora, Wahadatpora, Bazar Mohalla, Karipora and Kharpora municipal wards while the BJP has won Narispora, Housing colony Ompora, Dobi Mohalla and Mohanpora municipal wards in Budgam.
## For the Srinagar municipal corporation, counting is being held at the Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC) in Srinagar and for the Jammu municipal corporation, counting is being held at the Polytechnic Institute near Bikram Chowk. For other districts of the state, counting is being held at the respective district headquarters.
## The municipal elections that took place in the state after 13 years, were held in four phases, covering 79 municipal bodies with an electorate of about 17 lakh electors.
## A total of 3,372 nominations were filed for 1,145 Wards and the voting was held on October 8, 10, 13 and 16.
## Of the 598 wards in Kashmir, 231 candidates were elected unopposed, while there were no candidates in 181 wards.
## Nearly 17 lakh voters were eligible to vote for 79 urban local bodies of the state but polling was held only for 52. No voting was held in 27 civic bodies in the Valley either because there was no candidate or only one candidate had filed nominations for a particular ward.
## In the valley, there were no signs of any electioneering in the run-up to the polls as terror outfits had threatened to target those taking part in the elections in any form. Separatist groups like the Hurriyat Conference had also called for a boycott of the elections.
## The election authorities kept the identity of the contesting candidates as a secret in view of the security threat to them, prompting political parties, which were against the polls in the present circumstances, to question the genuineness of the process.