© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
THE HIGHEST polling in almost three decades in Srinagar, at 38%, is being interpreted differently by different quarters. Now, all eyes are on what it means for the two remaining Lok Sabha seats of Kashmir, which will vote on May 20 and 25.
Traditionally, both Baramulla, which votes next, and Anantnag (now renamed Anantnag-Rajouri) have seen higher voting than the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat. With areas of Jammu province included in Anantnag now, the overall polling in Kashmir is expected to cross the 50% mark – which would be higher than even the 1996 elections, marred by allegations of coerced voting.
In an interview to The Hindu, published on Wednesday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah repeated what the BJP has been saying, that the Srinagar voting was “the greatest testament to the rightness of the decision” to revoke Article 370.
On the other hand, Kashmir mainstream parties such as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and National Conference (NC) have said that the Srinagar voting reflected the pent-up frustration of Valley residents, who snapped up the first chance to “reject” the Centre’s scrapping of J&K’s special status.
“The Srinagar constituency turned out in large numbers driven by a sense of suffocation and a desire to reject the actions taken on August 5, 2019,” former chief minister and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti said at a poll rally in south Kashmir Tuesday. Mufti, who is facing a tough contest in the Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha seat against senior Gujjar leader and NC stalwart Mian Altaf and the Apni Party’s Zafar Iqbal Manhas, also appealed to the people to come out in large numbers to vote when the constituency goes to polls on May 25.
“I appeal to the people of Anantnag-Rajouri constituency that even if it takes you 10 hours in a queue, don’t return home without casting your vote. There are elements who want to prevent people from voting,” Mufti said. Polling in the seat was earlier scheduled on May 7, but was put off at the last moment by the Election Commission (EC), citing adverse weather conditions and an application by political parties to do so. The PDP and NC, which opposed the postponement, have called the move part of the Centre’s ploy to make it more difficult for regional parties like them to contest.
At the same time, officials as well as party leaders said in private that they had expected the Srinagar turnout to be higher. There was visible enthusiasm among the public, which has been under Central rule now for nearly six years, to vote. Poll rallies saw excited participation, especially of the youth, with poll campaigns venturing into areas where mainstream political leaders would otherwise not venture.
Unlike previous years, there was no call for a poll boycott either by separatist organisations, such as the Hurriyat Conference, Jamaat-e Islami or militant groups.
On May 13, voting crossed previous marks across the five districts falling in the Srinagar seat – Srinagar, Ganderbal, Pulwama and parts of Budgam and Shopian (the last two new additions after delimitation). Srinagar district saw 24.71% voting, compared to 7.7% in 2019; Pulwama 42%, against only 2% last time, when it was part of the Anantnag seat; Ganderbal, 53.02% (17.6% in 2019); Budgam 52% (21.5% in 2019); and Shopian 47% (2.88% in 2019).
Baramulla has been less swayed by separatist boycott calls, while voting in Anantnag has seen its ups and downs over the years. In 2019, while Baramulla saw a voter turnout of 39.1%, Anantnag, a stronghold of the PDP, saw polling drop to less than 10% amidst anger over the party’s alliance with the BJP to form the government.
Anantnag, post-delimitation, includes Poonch and a big part of the Rajouri district, which have traditionally seen polling of over 70%.
Baramulla, which has always voted in higher numbers than other parts of Kashmir – barring the Sopore and Baramulla Assembly segments -is also expected to see an impressive turnout given the high-voltage contest here. NC vice-president and former CM Omar Abdullah is up
against People’s Conference leader Sajad Lone, Independent candidate Engineer Rashid, and the PDP’s Fayaz Ahmad Mir.
A senior mainstream leader said the voter turnout cannot be seen as divorced from the separatist sentiment, and is actually reflective of the anger over the abrogation of J&K’s special status. “If you look at the choice of candidates in Srinagar too, you will see that. PDP candidate Waheed ur Rahman Para managed to get people out because he suffered in jail. Even Mehbooba ji said that you (Delhi) sent him to jail, and we will send him to Parliament. Even Aga Ruhullah has been a radical voice in the NC (against the party’s stand on the issue of abrogation, and its participation in District Development Council polls). The vote for him is also a vote for his language of resistance,” he said.
In case of Baramulla, the leader said, the voter turnout may also be swayed by the same sentiment. “If you see Engineer Rashid, for example, his campaign is completely based on separatist sentiments.” Rashid is contesting elections from the Tihar jail in Delhi, where he has been lodged since 2019 following his arrest by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in an alleged money laundering case related to terror funding in the Valley.
An NC leader also said that they expected the turnout to increase further in the next two phases as this is a vote “against the abrogation of special status”. “The Srinagar turnout will give a fillip in other constituencies as well,” said the leader.
Past voter turnouts (in %)
