Six assembly seats of the mountainous Doda district in Jammu region are being contested on Tuesday.

Voting has already taken place in other parts of the state and has been marked by mixed turnout and violence.

The Muslim majority Doda district has been hit by violence for over a decade.

Separatist militants have threatened violence against those taking part in the elections and this is likely to have an impact on voter turnout.

Poll preparations

The BBC's Binoo Joshi in Jammu says the campaign has been high-profile in the main, accessible towns, but has remained low-key in remote areas where people are hesitant to vote because of security fears.

Due to the inaccessibility of Doda district spread over 11,500 square kilometres, election staff are being sent by helicopter to about 50 polling centres.

Voting has been staggered because of security fears

Meanwhile, police in Jammu said two army soldiers were killed and three others injured when a patrol was ambushed in the mountainous border district of Rajouri district on Sunday.

A gun battle between the patrol and suspected militants ensued.

Four paramilitary border guards died when a landmine exploded in the frontier district of Kupwara, it was reported on Saturday.

The explosion took place outside a school in the village of Sogam, where paramilitary troops called in for policing the polls in Lolab constituency on Tuesday were housed.

Elections in Lolab had to be suspended after last month's killing of the state's law minister, Mushtaq Lone, who was the governing party's candidate from the constituency.

A leading militant group, the Hizbul Mujahideen, claimed responsibility for the explosion.

Violent elections

Nearly 200 people including candidates have been killed since the poll process began in the state nearly two months ago.

Correspondents say India hopes the four-round poll - which ends next week - will quell growing protests against its rule in the region.

Neighbouring Pakistan has denounced the vote as a poor substitute for the plebiscite it wants for the people of Kashmir to decide between Pakistani and Indian sovereignty.

The two nuclear-capable rivals still have around one million troops deployed on their border.