Only 3.4 per cent of the electorate turned up at the polling booths for the second phase of the municipal elections in Kashmir, a figure less than the 8 per cent in the first round and despite the process starting well before daybreak to encourage boycott-wary voters.

Polling was brisk in Jammu, which pulled up the total turnout in the state to 31.3 per cent, less than the 57 per cent in the first phase. The cumulative turnout in the two phases now stands at 47 per cent.

After the abysmal turnout in the first phase, the state election commission had advanced the time for the start of polling for the remaining three rounds to 6am from 7am, possibly to encourage voters wary of the boycott call by the separatists to cast their ballots under the cover of darkness.

Chief electoral officer Shaleen Kabra said in a statement that 214 wards in Jammu where elections were held on Wednesday recorded a 76 per cent turnout, but the 49 wards in Kashmir witnessed 3.4 per cent polling. The highest percentage in Kashmir, 36, was recorded in Bandipore district.

The turnout in Srinagar’s 20 wards was 2.2 per cent. In south Kashmir’s Anantnag, 1.1 per cent of the voters turned up at the booths, the lowest in the state. Jammu’s Reasi district saw the highest turnout of 85 per cent.

Only a third of the 598 wards in Kashmir are witnessing a contest as no candidate came forward to file nominations in 177 wards and another