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Omar Abdullah blames Centre for low turnout during second phase of J&K polls
Omar Abdullah said the Centre projected people are participating in voting during the first phase as them being happy and satisfied with the removal of Article 370, saying the lower turnout was perhaps it’s a reaction
The relatively low voter turnout in the second phase of elections in Kashmir, especially capital Srinagar, has elicited reactions from political leaders including with former chief minister (CM) Omar Abdullah, who blamed the central government for linking high turn in earlier phases to normalcy and acceptance for the abrogation of Article 370.
Abdullah, expressing his disappointment at lower turnout in a media interaction at Uri, said, “I was expecting more turnout because there was no boycott call, no attacks from anywhere or no attempt to coerce voters. I think some blame lies on the central government. They tried to present it as normalcy at one place or another.”
Notably, Srinagar’s Habba Kadal assembly seat had recorded lowest 19.8% voting while the highest in the capital was Eidgah at 36.9%. The overall turnout also dropped from 61% in the first phase to 57% in the second.
Abdullah, who is fighting from Budgam and Ganderbal constituencies that went to polls in the second phase, said the Centre tried to project voting as people’s acceptance of Article 370’s revocation which triggered reaction in Srinagar leading to low voter turnout.
“[The Centre projected that] ‘see people are participating in voting, hence people are happy and satisfied with the removal of Art 370. Perhaps it’s a reaction happened in Srinagar because people of Srinagar didn’t want to send a wrong signal,” the leader said.
Srinagar district, with eight assembly constituencies, has been a hub of boycott and separatist politics for the past 35 years and areas falling in Old City particularly have seen dismal numbers. However, this time there was no call of boycott either from separatists or militants but still many polling booths in Srinagar wore a deserted look on Wednesday.
“Well there may be some people voting to keep BJP out of Kashmir valley but overall the ‘sentiment’ is against voting. We suffered a lot and many of our people died for a particular cause. Shall we shun that?,” questioned a middle-aged man of Nowhatta outside a polling booth on Wednesday.
Kashmir’s Ganderbal and Budgam districts reported 62.5% and 62.9% polling respectively in the second phase on Wednesday.
In last week’s first phase of polling, even Pulwama district in south Kashmir, once known as the hub of militancy, recorded a 43.8%, lowest in the first phase.
After the first phase, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had praised the historic turnout in Jammu and Kashmir assembly polls calling it a proof of a “Naya (new) Kashmir”. He had pledged his commitment to restoring the region’s statehood but said that Article 370, which bestowed special status to the region before it was scrapped in 2019, would never be restored.
The assembly election is being held in Jammu and Kashmir after 10 years particularly after the abrogation of erstwhile state’s special status under Article 370 in August 2019.
Abdullah also said it was a mistake to invite the foreign diplomats to observe the polling in Kashmir. “The Centre made another mistake by inviting diplomats. Maybe they wanted to showcase higher voter turnout in Srinagar as a sign of major change. The people of Srinagar did not want to be used in this manner, so they voted in fewer numbers,” he said.
A group of diplomats from 15 countries, including the US, Singapore, South Korea and South Africa, visited Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday to observe the second phase of polling in the Union territory.
Expected higher numbers: Srinagar DC
Srinagar deputy commissioner and district election officer, Bilal Mohi-ud-din Bhat said they were expecting some more voting in Srinagar. The optimism was owing to the Srinagar parliamentary constituency, comprising Budgam, Ganderbal, Srinagar, Pulwama and parts of Shopian districts, recording voting of 38.4% in May, the highest in 30 years.
“Expectations were more but what can be done, there is no control on people’s actions. We can say that the percentage was better than 2024-Lok Sabha elections and 2014-assembly elections,” he said.
In 2014 assembly elections, Srinagar district had reported 27.86% polling while in recent Lok Sabha elections the capital witnessed 25% voting (of the overall 38.4% voting). “The end of voting percentage in Srinagar has now reached 30.07%,” Bhat said.
