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Record turnout in south Kashmir; PDP protests
The Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha seat in Jammu & Kashmir on Saturday recorded its highest ever voter turnout in national elections in four decades, as the first major electoral contest in the Union territory since the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019 concluded and registered an overall turnout that is also the highest in 40 years, officials said.
The Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha seat in Jammu & Kashmir on Saturday recorded its highest ever voter turnout in national elections in four decades, as the first major electoral contest in the Union territory since the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019 concluded and registered an overall turnout that is also the highest in 40 years, officials said.
Data provided by the Election Commission (EC) at 11pm on its Voter Turnout app showed that the constituency, which comprises close to 1.83 million eligible voters, saw a turnout of 53.81%, after 70% in 1984.
To be sure, because of delimitation in J&K in 2022, the seat is not directly comparable to the constituency earlier.
The data provided by the poll body showed Rajouri (ST) recorded the highest turnout of 69.90% and Anantnag the lowest of 31%. Addressing reporters in Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir’s chief electoral officer (CEO) Pandurang Kundbarao Pole said the overall voter turnout in the Union territory stood at 58%.
“It is the highest turnout for these five seats in the last 40 years. The previous high was 49% in 2014, while the turnout in 1996 was 47.99%,” he said.
Officials said voting on Saturday was held smoothly across the constituency even though Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief and poll candidate Mehbooba Mufti alleged rigging across some booths.
Residents of villages that had long been deprived of polling due to terrorist threats and separatist-sponsored boycott calls turned out in large numbers to cast ballots, the officials said, adding that family members of active militants were also spotted at polling booths exercising their right to vote.
Earlier, the Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency had registered its highest voter turnout in three decades, and Baramulla recorded its second-highest turnout since 1984, in the Valley.
Polling in Anantnag-Rajouri was originally slated to be held in the third phase on May 7 but was deferred in view of the “adverse weather” at the time. The seat is witnessing a triangular contest between Mufti, National Conference (NC)’s Mian Altaf and Apni Party candidate Zaffar Iqbal Manhas. The Congress, which is fighting the elections in the Union territory in an alliance with the NC, did not field a candidate as part of its seat-sharing arrangement. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is also not contesting the seat but has extended its support to Manhas.
As voting was underway on Saturday, Mufti staged a protest outside a police station in Anantnag district against alleged detention of her party workers and polling agents. She also claimed that outgoing calls on her mobile number were suspended.
“Our PDP polling agents are being targeted and arrested. We are asking the reason but they are not saying anything. If they are so afraid of me going to Parliament, then the lieutenant governor should tell me not to fight elections,” she told reporters.
She said this kind of “rigging” was witnessed in 1987, which many believe led to the eruption of militancy in Kashmir.
Police, however, said those detained are overground workers (OGWs) and the action was taken to ensure smooth conduct of elections. “Those who have been detained are overground workers and have been taken into preventive custody to ensure peaceful polling,” a police officer said, seeking anonymity.
Jammu & Kashmir has five Lok Sabha seats, including two from Jammu region, while Ladakh has one. In the 2019 general elections, while the NC won all the three seats from the Valley, the BJP won the two Jammu seats as well as the lone Ladakh seat.
