Campaigning for the first phase of the district development council (DDC) polls and by-elections to local bodies in Jammu and Kashmir ended on Thursday evening, officials said. Voting to decide the fate of 1,475 candidates in this phase would take place on Saturday from 7 am to 2 pm.

Officials said campaigning took place in a peaceful manner and there was no untoward incident. Out of the 1,475 candidates, 296 are contesting in the maiden DDC polls in the union territory, they said, adding 172 are from the Kashmir valley and 124 from Jammu region.

In the first phase of the eight-phased DDC polls, 43 constituencies will go to polls -- 25 in Kashmir and 18 in Jammu, the officials said.

For the by-elections to panchayats, 899 candidates are in the fray for Panch seats and 280 for the sarpanch seats. A total number of 2,644 polling stations have been set up and there are 7,03,620 electors for this phase, the officials said. They said all arrangements have been put in place for smooth conduct of the polls.

India Today spoke to state election commissioner KK Sharma on the latest development.