Mist blanketed the village as Farooq Ahmad Bhat shivered in the early morning chill, walking to the nearest polling booth to cast his vote. Twenty-two-year-old Bhat was the first voter in Gulmarg’s Batapora village.Defying a militant call to boycott Assembly elections, Bhat got to the polling booth at 7.20 am. Terming himself as one who voted for peace, he says: ‘‘The candidate I have voted for would strive for peace between India and Pakistan. He would fight for removal of Army installations from residential areas as also the SOG of the J-K Police which is worse than the Rashtriya Rifles.”Aware that there are risks involved in coming out to vote openly, Bhat says: ‘‘This violence cannot go on endlessly.”
