New Delhi: Polls campaign for Urban Local Bodies polls in Jammu and Kashmir has gained momentum with people wooing voters in this region of Jammu and Kashmir as the dates for the first phase of Urban Local Bodies (ULB) polls draw closer.

The ULB polls are scheduled to begin on October 8. A total of 422 wards, covering municipal corporations, municipal committees and municipal councils, spread across various districts, both in Jammu and Kashmir divisions, will go to polls in the first phase of the four-phased election.

An electorate of 16,97,291 are eligible to vote in 1,145 wards across the state. The last election to the municipal bodies in the state was held in 2005 through secret ballot and the term of five years had expired in February 2010.

The political activity in the Jammu region has gained momentum after the governor administration decided to hold the municipal and panchayat polls – the later being held in nine phases in November-December. The last general election to the panchayats was held in 2011, after a gap of 10 years. The panchayats elected in 2011 completed their tenure in July 2016. The campaigning is going on smoothly and is gaining momentum with each passing day, officials said.

The election will be a close contest between the BJP and the Congress as the National Conference and the PDP, the two main regional parties, have announced their decision to boycott the polls over the Article 35-A issue. Local parties like the resurgent National Panthers Party (NPP) will give a tough competition to the two national parties in this region. Independent candidates, some of them former Congress and BJP leaders, are also in the fray.

Earlier this month, the NC had said it will not participate in the polls “unless and until the government of India and the state government clears its position, and takes effective steps to protect Article 35-A in and outside the court”.