Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Anantnag-Rajouri seat, previously known as Anantnag has a history of fluctuating voter turnouts, with the highest being 70 per cent in the 1984 elections. Srinagar and Baramulla, the two other seats of Kashmir, also registered record voter turnouts.
Kashmir: The Anantnag-Rajouri parliamentary constituency of Jammu and Kashmir that voted in phase 6 of Lok Sabha Elections 2024 on May 25 registered an approximate 54.46 per cent voter turnout, according to the Election Commission of India’s updated figures on Sunday, May 26.
This is the record voter turnout recorded in the redrawn Anantnag-Rajouri seat – earlier known as Anantnag – after the 1984 general elections when it registered 70 per cent polling, highest ever since 1967 when the seat was formed.
The high voter turnout in the seat was in sharp contrast to the poll percentage of 9 registered in the 2019 general election. Even the militancy-infested Zainapora Assembly segment, which registered a turnout of 2 per cent in 2019, recorded a poll percentage of 41 on Saturday.
The seat was one of the 58 seats that voted in the sixth and penultimate phase of Lok Sabha Elections 2024 on May 25. Overall, the 58 seats recorded 59.06 % voter turnout in Phase 6 until updated till 7.45 pm on Saturday.
Anantnag- Rajouri is one of the three seats in the Kashmir Valley—other than Srinagar and Baramulla—where the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) has not fielded any candidates. The saffron party is, however, informally supporting local parties to keep the two regional satraps – the National Conference and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) – at bay.
The seat witnessed a three-way contest in the first election after the abrogation of Article 370 and redrawing of its political map. PDP chief, Mehbooba Mufti, is pitted against Mian Altaf of the NC, and Zafar Iqbal Manhas of the Apni Party from this seat.
Srinagar, Baramulla and now Anantnag-Rajouri
Both Srinagar and Baramulla registered record voter turnout. Srinagar which voted in fourth phase on May 13, saw 38.49 per cent voter turnout while Baramulla which voted in fifth phase on May 20 recorded 59.1 per cent voter turnout, according to the poll panel. The Anantnag-Rajouri seat gained even more significance in shaping the region’s political landscape after its electoral boundaries were redrawn in 2022.
Delimitation
Until 2022, the constituency in South Kashmir – known earlier as Anantnag – comprised only the districts of the Valley. However, a redrawn Anantnag-Rajouri seat was carved out by combining the Anantnag region in the Valley and Rajouri and Poonch of the Jammu region, changing the seat’s demography through delimitation. The new seat has 18 assembly segments — 11 in the Kashmir region’s Shopian, Kulgam, and Anantnag districts and 7 in Jammu’s Poonch and Rajouri districts across the Pir Panjal range.
70 % turnout in 1984
The highest ever turnout in Anantnag was about 70 per cent in the 1984 elections. This, however, fell to 5.1 per cent in 1989, due to insurgency in the Valley. In the subsequent elections, the turnout continued to fluctuate. No election could be held in 1991 parliamentary polls in Anantnag. In 1996, the turnout again went up to 50.2 per cent only to reduce to 28.2 per cent in 1998 general elections.
In 1999, the polling per centage in Anantnag fell further to just 14.3 percent. In 2004, when PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti won the seat, the turnout was about 15 per cent. In the next two elections – 2009 and 2014 – the turnout was between 27 and 29 per cent. And in 2019, the turnout was about 9 per cent in Anantnag. Inputs
The Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha seat in Jammu & Kashmir on Saturday recorded its highest ever voter turnout in national elections in four decades, as the first major electoral contest in the Union territory since the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019 concluded and registered an overall turnout that is also the highest in 40 years, officials said.
Data provided by the Election Commission (EC) at 11pm on its Voter Turnout app showed that the constituency, which comprises close to 1.83 million eligible voters, saw a turnout of 53.81%, after 70% in 1984.
To be sure, because of delimitation in J&K in 2022, the seat is not directly comparable to the constituency earlier. The data provided by the poll body showed Rajouri (ST) recorded the highest turnout of 69.90% and Anantnag the lowest of 31%. Addressing reporters in Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir’s chief electoral officer (CEO) Pandurang Kundbarao Pole said the overall voter turnout in the Union territory stood at 58%. “It is the highest turnout for these five seats in the last 40 years. The previous high was 49% in 2014, while the turnout in 1996 was 47.99%,” he said.
Officials said voting on Saturday was held smoothly across the constituency even though Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief and poll candidate Mehbooba Mufti alleged rigging across some booths.
Residents of villages that had long been deprived of polling due to terrorist threats and separatist-sponsored boycott calls turned out in large numbers to cast ballots, the officials said, adding that family members of active militants were also spotted at polling booths exercising their right to vote.
Earlier, the Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency had registered its highest voter turnout in three decades, and Baramulla recorded its second-highest turnout since 1984, in the Valley.
Polling in Anantnag-Rajouri was originally slated to be held in the third phase on May 7 but was deferred in view of the “adverse weather” at the time. The seat is witnessing a triangular contest between Mufti, National Conference (NC)’s Mian Altaf and Apni Party candidate Zaffar Iqbal Manhas. The Congress, which is fighting the elections in the Union territory in an alliance with the NC, did not field a candidate as part of its seat-sharing arrangement. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is also not contesting the seat but has extended its support to Manhas.
As voting was underway on Saturday, Mufti staged a protest outside a police station in Anantnag district against alleged detention of her party workers and polling agents. She also claimed that outgoing calls on her mobile number were suspended. “Our PDP polling agents are being targeted and arrested. We are asking the reason but they are not saying anything. If they are so afraid of me going to Parliament, then the lieutenant governor should tell me not to fight elections,” she told reporters.
She said this kind of “rigging” was witnessed in 1987, which many believe led to the eruption of militancy in Kashmir. Police, however, said those detained are overground workers (OGWs) and the action was taken to ensure smooth conduct of elections. “Those who have been detained are overground workers and have been taken into preventive custody to ensure peaceful polling,” a police officer said, seeking anonymity.
Jammu & Kashmir has five Lok Sabha seats, including two from Jammu region, while Ladakh has one. In the 2019 general elections, while the NC won all the three seats from the Valley, the BJP won the two Jammu seats as well as the lone Ladakh seat. Source
