Jammu and Kashmir recorded 79.9 percent voting Saturday in the penultimate phase of the nine-phased panchayat polls, state electoral officer Shaleen Kabra said.

A massive 85.1 percent polling was witnessed in five districts of Jammu division, while encouraging 49.6 percent was witnessed in five districts of Kashmir division, he said.

The voting in the eight phase began at 8 am at 2,633 polling stations - 550 in Kashmir division and 2,083 in Jammu division and ended peacefully at 2 pm.

The highest 89.8 percent was recorded in Reasi district of Jammu region, while the lowest 9.1 percent was registered in Budgam district of central Kashmir, Kabra said.

He said Jammu recorded 84.8 percent followed by Kathua and Samba -- 84 percent each, and Rajouri -- 82.4 percent. In the Kashmir Valley, Baramulla topped the turnout chart with 56.9 percent followed by Kupwara -- 53.8 percent, Bandipora -- 18 percent and Srinagar -- 11.6 percent, Kabra said.

He said 6,304 candidates were in the fray for 331 sarpanch and 2,007 panch seats in this phase, while 43 sarpanchs and 681 panchs have been elected unopposed.

An electorate of 5,15,121 have the right to exercise their franchise for sarpanch constituencies and 4,19,775 for panch constituencies, he said.

At the end of seven phases of the panchayat polls, an overall voter turnout of 73.8 percent has been recorded across the state, with a poll percentage of 44.4 percent in Kashmir division and 83.2 percent in Jammu division.