they would disrupt the polls and kill anyone taking part, although six people were injured in explosions at or near polling stations.

Indian officials said the preliminary turnout figure was 44 percent of the 1.49 million eligible voters in the five districts voting, which the Chief Electoral Officer in Kashmir, Pramod Jain, termed "satisfactory".

Officials said the turnout could rise slightly once figures were finally tallied.

Turnout in the previous election in 1996 in those districts was 61 percent while for the whole state it was 54 percent. Average turnout in India's other state polls is usually around 67 percent.

Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani said the polling was "a befitting reply" to Pakistan, which has questioned the legitimacy of the Indian-organised elections -- in the past marred by allegations of vote-rigging.

"Conducting successful polling is in itself a befitting reply. I think the international community would regard these as successful elections," he said.

Tensions between India and Pakistan since December, when the Indian parliament was attacked by gunmen New Delhi claims were sponsored by Islamabad, have focused international attention on Kashmir.

India refused to allow foreign observers but some 28 foreign diplomats watched the voting unofficially.

Advani said he hoped the next three rounds of voting would "similarly contribute to strengthening of democracy in the state".

"From all accounts (the) polling was free and fair and there were no allegations of rigging in any constituency or any report of coercion by anyone," he added.

However separatists, who are boycotting the polls, which are being held in the various districts on four different dates ending October 8, said voters were coerced by the security forces to turn up to vote.

Abdul Gani Bhat, chairman of the separatist umbrella group the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, said turnout was inflated in the closing hours "through intimidation and fraud."

"The people were beaten, forced and coerced into voting in many of the villages in Kashmir," he said.

"If the army had not been thrown into the field both covertly and overtly the percentage (turnout) would have been zero," he added.

Separatists want a UN-supervised plebiscite to determine the future of Kashmir, which is divided between India and Pakistan and claimed by both.

Some Kashmiri villagers had complained Monday that the Indian army had forced them to participate in the poll, which India wants to flag as an endorsement of its rule in Kashmir.

Indian officials denied the allegations, saying they were made at the behest of Muslim rebels opposed to Indian rule in the region.

In the lead-up to the vote, militants killed 24 party workers, including Kashmir's law minister, Mushtaq Ahmed Lone, who was shot dead as he campaigned.

Some 36,500 people have been killed since the eruption of a Muslim anti-Indian rebellion in Kashmir in 1989.

The next phase of polling takes place on September 24, when Srinagar, Jammu and Budgam districts will vote.

The counting of votes will start on October 10.

an/str/bp/rcw/ds Nampa-AFP WEB story ENDS (NAMPA 170834)

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