The 29.27% turnout was marginally better than the Lok Sabha elections when the figure stood at 26% and around the same ballpark as the 2014 assembly polls’ 27.86%
People in the summer capital of Srinagar, the Old City in particular, which had remained a hub of boycott and separatist politics during militancy, on Wednesday saw a 29.27% turnout in the second phase of polling. The numbers were marginally better than the Lok Sabha elections when the figure stood at 26% and around the same ballpark as the 2014 assembly polls’ 27.86%.
During the Lok Sabha elections, the Srinagar seat (comprising Srinagar, Budgam and Ganderbal districts) had witnessed 38.49% voting on May 13, the highest in the past 30 years, with Srinagar district’s eight constituencies reporting about 26% turnout.
In the first two hours of voting, 60 people out of 869 voters had cast their choice in the Badubagh polling booth of Khanyar constituency.
Retired government employee Mohammad Shafi, 72, had come out to vote for the first time since the militancy erupted in Jammu and Kashmir in 1990s. “Our special status was revoked. What benefit did it bring us except disempowering us amid the onslaught of aggressive policies from the centre? Our statehood was taken away and outsiders are governing us,” Shafi said.
He said his vote was for choosing local representatives in the assembly, adding, “What development has been brought here in the past 10 years? Bureaucrats, who are outsiders, don’t understand the needs of our region, nor do they care?”
Faizan Ahmad, a 25-year-old Cluster University student, said unemployment has aggravated in the past 10 years. “We witnessed their claims of increasing employment. Many students with PhD and BTech are unemployed. Some have even gone into depression. They are forced to sell snacks and chicken on the roadside,” Ahmad said.
There was no call for boycott this time. Hurriyat leader and chief cleric of Jamia Masjid in Srinagar’s Nowhatta, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, has distanced himself from electoral politics and did not issue any boycott call either during Lok Sabha or assembly elections.
In Nowhatta’s Khwaja Bazar polling booth stationed in Motherland School, 131 persons had voted out of 823 electors in the first three hours of polling.
Standing outside the polling station, Khursheed Ahmad, 52, insisted that the people have no other option to bring back local governance other than through voting this time.
“Kashmiris know that article 370 and statehood restoration is a long process but at-least we should resist the BJP. There should be some fight back on the policies they are bringing. See how many alcohol shops are opening and how much taxes are piling up,” said Ahmad, who owns a business in the region.
In Merjanpora and Tengpora polling booths of Eidgah constituency, around 10% votes were cast in the first four hours of polling.
Asim Ahmad, a 29-year-old Pashmina artisan, said there was a better response to voting than in the past. “Ten years back, nobody would come out to vote. There used to be ‘jazba (passion)’. That passion is there but the anger has channelised against the wrong governmental policies here,” he said.
The Srinagar district, with eight assembly seats, has a total of 7,76,674 registered voters, deciding the fate of 93 candidates.
Zahid Ahmad, a 29 -year-old voter of Eidgah constituency, said a number of youth in Old City have been in jails since 2019 owing to different acts like PSA and UAPA. “At-least the local government would listen to us. Our brothers are in jail. What wrong they did except raising a voice against tyranny. Now when the situation has improved, why aren’t they being allowed to go home,” the marketing graduate said.
In Habba Kadal constituency, over 8% voters had cast their votes till 12 pm in five polling booths established in Shahi Hamdan Community Hall.
Mushtaq Ahmad, a government employee of Habba Kadal constituency, was angry that more people were not coming out to vote. “Don’t they see another bill was introduced in parliament? They want to finish the protection of Waqf properties and people are sleeping. In foreign nations, people vote for governments which invest in health and education,” he said.
Businessman Riyaz Ahmad said Jammu and Kashmir as a UT was in very bad shape. “The electricity bills have increased by 300% and nobody is ready to listen to the common man. Centre brings in any law and our lieutenant governor stamps it. There is fear. If anyone talks he gets arrested immediately. They didn’t even spare former chief ministers and MLAs,’ he said.
