Polling
Voters line up to cast their votes outside a polling station during the first phase of the Jammu and Kashmir state assembly elections at Baba Nagri on November 25, 2014.Reuters

7 PM: 61% voting took place in the third phase in Jharkhand, while in Jammu and Kashmir, 58% voters turned up defying the cold weather and separatist boycott.

1.30 PM: Uri, the centre of militant attacks just a few days back, witnesses voting in large numbers.

1 PM: Jammu and Kashmir registers about 27 percent voter turnout at 12 PM - highest polling recorded at 37.6 percent in Charar-i-Sharief, followed by 37 percent in Uri. The lowest turnout of 15 percent came from Sopore, according to reports.

12.30 PM: An untoward incident reported in Gulmarg constituency of Baramulla district where a petrol bomb was hurled by unidentified men.

12.30 PM: An Election Commission official claims that voting recorded at 30 percent in Jharkhand till 11 am, adding that the voter turnout has been good in urban areas so far. Ranchi recorded a polling of around 32 percent in the initial hours of the day.

12.15 PM: BJP leader and former External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha casts his vote in Hazaribagh.

12 PM: There has been a complete boycott of polls in Palhallan (Jammu and Kashmir).

11.30 AM: A breakup of the percentage of polling recorded in Jammu and Kashmir so far.

Uri - 10.25%

Rafiabad - 12%

Sopore - 4%

Sangrama - 10%

Baramulla - 9.87%

Gulmarg - 15.02%

Pattan - 8.09%

11.15 AM: Indian cricket team captain MS Dhoni's wife Sakshi casts her vote in Jharkhand.

10.30 AM: Security forces and Naxals engaged in a heavy exchange of gunfire near Kendua Pahari under Dhanwar Assembly constituency in Giridih district of Jharkhand.

10 AM: Till 9 AM on Tuesday, the polling in Jharkhand has been 15 percent, while the voting in J&K seems to have taken a drop.

9.30 AM: 12 people, including Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) candidate Arvind Kumar Singh, have been arrested after a tiff between Singh's supporters and BJP workers in the Seraikela-Kharswan district.

9.15 AM: The early signs are good as brisk polling has been reported in the first two hours in Jharkhand and J&K.

8.45 AM: Voters line up in Jammu and Kashmir way before the polling time of 8 AM.

Balloting began on Tuesday in 17 of the 81 assembly constituencies in the third round of the five-phase elections in Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir, officials said.

In the shadow of terror and in freezing temperatures, sixteen constituencies spread over three districts of the Kashmir Valley will elect their representatives to the legislative assembly in this phase.

Over 50 lakh voters, including 23.5 lakh women, will decide the political fate of 289 candidates in Jharkhand. Polling will take place in 5,865 polling booths.

Voting started at 7 a.m. and will end at 3 p.m. in 15 seats while balloting will continue till 5 p.m. in two constituencies.

Former chief minister Babulal Marandi, former assembly speaker C.P. Singh, Annapurna Devi of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, Rajendra Prasad Singh of the Congress and Jai Prakash Bhai Patel of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha are among the prominent candidates in this phase.

(With inputs from IANS)

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