High turnout in Kashmir Panchayat polls

A high turnout and peaceful balloting marked the first phase of the Panchayat elections in Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday held after nearly ten years.

People defied boycott calls by the separatist leaders like Syed Ali Geelani and voted in large number in eight blocks in the local boy polls held after 2001.

In some places the polling was as hight as 77 percent.

On Wednesday the first phase of the 16-phase poll was held. There were 2800 candidates in the the fray.

The polling was held in Bishnah, Samba and Udhampur in Jammu district and Kangan, Budgam, Qoimoh and Kupwara in Kashmir.

The people of insurgency-hit Kashmir had exercised their democratic rights in large number in the 2008 assembly polls too.