Polling for the second phase of five-phased assembly elections began this morning in Jharkhand. Voting in Jammu and Kashmir will begin in a short while from now. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged people of Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir to vote in large numbers in these elections. In Jharkhand, polling will be held till 3 pm in 18 of the 20 seats, while Jamshedpur East and Jamshedpur West will have polling upto 5 pm in this phase. Nearly 33 lakh, 31 thousands voters are casting their votes through the 5011 booths to choose from 223 candidates. 40 thousand State and Central Police Forces have been deployed and reserve emergency resources like helicopters and ambulances are also put in place at key locations.

In Jammu and Kashmir, polling will start in 18 assembly constituencies spread over five districts from 8 am and will continue till 4 pm at 1,247 polling booths. In the 2nd phase of polling today, over 15 lakh electorate including 17,015 Kashmiri Pandit voters will seal the fate of 175 candidates. These candidates include Deputy Speaker, four ministers, 11 other sitting MLAs and also the separatist turned mainstream political leader Sajjad Ghani Lone. Unprecedented security arrangements have been made in Kulgam and Kupwara districts as also in three districts of Reasi, Udhampur and Poonch in Jammu Division following killing of sarpanch by militants in Shopian on Sunday evening.

Inspector General of Police Kashmir Range, A .G .Mir told AIR that additional 220 companies of paramilitary security personnel have been deployed , besides the police for the second phase of polling in the two districts of the Valley. He said the security grid is fully geared up to foil any attempts of militants to disrupt the democratic process.