Hurriyat claims win amid boycott

Living up to its image as the Valleys boycott bastion,Srinagar posted a meagre 24 per cent turnout in the fourth phase of parliamentary elections,mirroring the low turnout in Anantnag constituency in the Valley in the previous phase. However,the low turnout in Srinagar was moderately compensated by the voting in the adjoining districts of Budgam and Ganderbal,which are also part of the Srinagar parliamentary constituency.

While Srinagar city was largely resolute in its decision to boycott the polls,in line with the separatists call,voters in Ganderbal and Budgam,who stayed away from the booths,had other reasons. We do not vote because there is little sense of affinity with a parliamentary candidate. People think he will not be concerned with their day-to-day problems, said Muhammad Sultan,a lecturer at Ganderbal. For others,however,it was the agricultural preoccupations which drove down the voting averages. An incipient sense of disillusionment with the new coalition government was claimed to have been a factor too.

The contest in Srinagar has pitted candidates of the PDP,NC and the Awami National Conference against each other. However,discounting the mainly symbolic significance of the ANC candidate Khalida Abdullahs fight with her brother,NC president Farooq Abdullah,the contest has narrowed down to Farooq and PDP candidate Iftikhar Ansari. Farooq is expected to romp home by a comfortable margin. However,the dismal turnout is likely to introduce an element of uncertainty in the outcome,with the Shia electorate of Budgam and Ganderbal,who are expected to have rallied around Ansari,voting in relatively large numbers.

The separatists,meanwhile,were quick to appropriate the low turnout as a victory for their boycott call. Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani and JKLF supremo Yasin Malik held separate press conferences soon after the polling ended and congratulated the people for heeding their call.