Leading this effort are Tariq Hameed Karra, President of the J&K Congress Unit, who is running from the Shalteng assembly segment, and Altaf Bukhari, chief of the Apni Party, contesting from Chanpora.

Eight constituencies in the Jammu region and 16 from the Kashmir Valley voted on the first phase of assembly elections. Two more rounds of voting remain.

Voters queued outside polling stations in India's Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday to vote in the first provincial election being held in a decade in the Himalayan region that has grappled with years of militant violence.

Jammu and Kashmir is set to vote in the second and third phases of their Assembly polls on September 25 and October 5 respectively. The results are to be declared on October 8. J&K recorded a 61 per cent voter turnout across 24 constituencies in seven districts in phase one of the assembly polls which concluded peacefully.

India’s troubled region of Jammu and Kashmir saw a brisk turnout amid tight security as voters cast their ballots on Wednesday in the first regional legislative elections in a decade. The region, which has seen years of separatist violence and is at the centre of a dispute between India and Pakistan,

Jammu and Kashmir witnessed a record 59% voter turnout in the first phase of assembly elections, the highest in seven elections. Despite minor scuffles, the elections concluded peacefully. Factors contributing to the high turnout include improved security and active political campaigns.

The voter turnout in the first phase of the Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections failed to match the voter turnout in the 2014 election when it was still a state and not a Union Territory.