Budgam turns from responsive electoral pocket to epicentre of defiance Archives

Ever since the electoral politics regained ground in Kashmir after 1996, seven years after the outbreak of armed insurgency, the central Kashmir’s Budgam district was one of the most receptive pockets in Kashmir for the democratic process. For every election, be it for the Assembly or Parliament, long queues were seen in the district, especially at Chrar-e-Sharif, the area that defied separatists’ poll boycott call long ago. Cut to 2017. The response at Chrar-e-Sharief and other pockets of the central district, including Chadoora and Beerwah, to the parliamentary by election…