SRINAGAR, Sept 24: Polls closed in occupied Kashmir on Tuesday after a day which saw a near total boycott in Srinagar, where a gunbattle and and a general strike kept voters indoors, but brisk voting in held Jammu.

A majority of voters in Srinagar and adjacent Budgam observed a boycott of the polls, with most stations reporting only handfuls of voters.

But the sombre mood and deserted polling stations in Srinagar contrasted with long queues in the Hindu-dominated Jammu district, where voting was generally brisk and sometimes festive.

Throughout the held valley, polling stations reported a dismal turnout. Nearly all stores in Srinagar downed their shutters and the only vehicles seen on the streets were those of Indian forces, with troops posted at every street corner.

The day was marked by a fierce early-morning gunbattle near a polling station in Srinagar, where police and paramilitary units blasted a house suspected to belong to Mujahideen seeking to disrupt the polling.

At least one militant was killed in the attack, which followed an all-night standoff between police and militants. One policemen was killed and another three were trapped in the house when they tried to storm it on Monday night.

The policemen were rescued from the house at daybreak, allowing paramilitary units and police to launch a fresh assault.

One of the militants went on to the roof of the house, where he was shot dead.

With the house burning, the militants inside continued firing at the Indian soldiers, who retaliated with small arms fire and rockets, witnesses said.

In Budgam district, militants fired from a distance at a polling station. The fire was returned by Indian forces, but there were no injuries or disruption of voting, police said.

Police and paramilitary troops guarded polling stations where electronic voting machines were being used for the first time.

Women voters outnumbered men in the districts of Akhnoor, R.S. Pora and Samba, all along the Line of Control (LoC).

Pakistani and Indian troops traded gunfire along the LoC. However, according to an official of India’s Border Security Force, the firing, in the Poonch district, was of “low intensity and no casualties were reported on the Indian side”.

In the Poonch district, Indian troops claimed killing four Mujahideen in a shootout on Tuesday after cordoning off a stronghold.—Agencies