THE vote fervour may not have matched the long queues across rural Kashmir, but the message rang as loud and clear in Srinagar on Wednesday. The epicentre of the separatist boycott campaign saw four times more polling than 2002, from 5.06 per cent then to 20 per cent on Wednesday.Chief Electoral Officer of Jammu and Kashmir B R Sharma said the total voter turnout in the 2008 Assembly elections stood around 61 per cent tentatively, a massive jump from 43.2 per cent five years ago. “This election,” he further said, “was one of the most keenly contested and peaceful.” An estimated 52 per cent of the 16.54 lakh electorate on Wednesday exercised their franchise in the seventh and last phase. While 26 civilians were killed last time, seven died in the seven-phase polls this time. The comparative figures for militants and securitymen respectively was 63 and nine then, five and one now.Although the stage was set for a showdown in the city — with 14 days of curfew and consistent separatist calls for a poll boycott — the mood on Wednesday was relaxed. However, people did not queue up outside polling booths, preferring to instead walk silently in twos and threes to cast their vote. In the high-profile Hazratbal constituency, where National Conference patron Farooq Abdullah is contesting, the scene was a little different, with long queues waiting outside by noon. Abdullah also managed to draw voters out in the other constituency from where he is contesting, Sonwar. The NC patron himself cast his vote at Burnhall polling centre in the morning. “We have our own problems. There should be someone to resolve them,” said 22-year-old Afroza Akhter. “Azadi is an issue, but there are other problems as well, like water and electricity. As for azadi, we will fight for it till the end.”In downtown Srinagar, however, the people stayed away. Outside the Srinagar grand mosque, dozens of CRPF personnel stood not allowing people to assemble at one place. “Why should we vote?” asked Tariq Ahmed, a local resident of Nowhatta. “We are for poll boycott and will never vote till the resolution of the Kashmir issue.” The boycott was visible almost in the entire old city. In many polling booths at Habba Kadal, a constituency which was one time the home of Kashmiri Pandits in Srinagar city, people mostly stayed away. While even the Pandits didn’t cast their vote, the low turnout is likely to benefit the 12 Kashmiri Pandits in the fray as they were mostly banking on the poll boycott to help them.“When majority of the people stay away, we don’t want to attract notice by casting the vote,” said a Kashmir Pandit. Fourteen people, including a photojournalist, were injured in the clashes between anti-poll demonstrators and police during the voting.
