Srinagar: Some of Kashmir's most violence-prone areas are due to vote on September 24 for the state Assembly in polls New Delhi hopes will pass peacefully and be a slap in the face for arch-rival Pakistan.

Some 2.19 million people are eligible to vote on September 24, including residents of Srinagar, the Himalayan province's summer capital.

Islamic separatist groups based in Srinagar have called a day-long strike and boycott of the polls. But voting will also take place in adjacent Budgam district and the Southern region of Jammu, the heart of Kashmir's one-third Hindu minority among whom passion for separatism is minimal.

Islamic rebels have vowed to kill anyone participating in the election and have launched a series of assaults ahead of the polls, including seven grenade attacks on September 23 that injured 36.

Indian Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani cast the vote as part of the conflict between India and Pakistan, which each control part of Kashmir and have fought two of their three wars over it.

The nuclear powers have massed hundreds of thousands troops to their common borders since a December attack on the Indian Parliament.

"We will win the ongoing proxy war through the successful conduct of these elections as we did in all the overt wars earlier," Advani said on September 23 in New Delhi.

More than 480 people have died since India on August 2 announced the dates of the elections, of which September 24 is the second round. About 33 of the dead were activists from parties contesting the polls.

But Indian officials were heartened by the first round of voting September 16, when election authorities said more than 47 per cent of eligible voters turned out.

While the figure was 14 percentage points lower than in the elections in the same five districts at the last Assembly vote in 1996, Indian officials said turnout was much higher than Intelligence reports on rebel activity had led them to believe.

The last round of voting saw only sporadic rebel violence on election day, although a number of residents claimed they were forced to the polls, allegations denied by India.

Srinagar registered the lowest turnout in the 1996 election, with only 25 per cent of eligible voters heading to the polls.

More than a dozen diplomats were seen in Srinagar where they will "follow" the polls, although India has rejected calls by the United States and other Western powers to allow formal election observers.