J&K Phase 2 Assembly elections today, Omar Abdullah, Ravinder Raina among bigwigs in fray
Over 2.5 million voters will decide the fate of 239 candidates in the fray for 26 Jammu and Kashmir Assembly seats in the second phase of the election to be held in the Union territory on Wednesday
prativad 
Amid tight security, Jammu and Kashmir will hold Phase 2 of Assembly elections on Wednesday, with voting scheduled from 7 am to 6 pm.
Over 2.5 million voters will decide the fate of 239 candidates in the fray for 26 Jammu and Kashmir Assembly seats. These Assembly seats are spread over six districts – three in the Valley and as many in the Jammu division.
“To facilitate smooth and hassle-free electoral participation, the Election Commission of India has established 3,502 polling stations in these segments. There are 1,056 urban polling stations and 2,446 rural polling stations,” PTI quoted an official as saying.
All polling stations will have webcasting facilities as part of the Election Commission’s efforts to ensure transparency, according to officials.
“To enhance voter participation, 157 special polling stations have been established for the second phase – 26 ‘pink polling stations’ managed by women, 26 polling stations manned by specially abled persons, 26 polling stations manned by youths, 31 border polling stations, 26 green polling stations and 22 unique polling stations,” the official said.
Voting to be conducted amid tight security
According to PTI, citing officials, a multi-tier security blanket has been thrown around each polling station to ensure the voting is held in an atmosphere free of fear.
The security forces personnel comprising police, armed police and central armed paramilitary forces left for the polling stations early on Tuesday morning, added the report.
