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Lok Sabha elections 2019: In Jammu and Kashmir’s militant-hit area, politicians opt for door-to-door poll campaigns
Lok Sabha elections 2019: The Pulwama and Shopian districts of the Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency will go to polls on Monday in the three-phase elections held for the seat.
With more than 100 militants reported to be active in the two districts of Pulwama and Shopian in south Kashmir, the mainstream political parties in Jammu and Kashmir are preferring to hold closed-door campaigns or are selecting secure places for their meetings or to organise small rallies.
The Pulwama and Shopian districts of the Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency will go to polls on Monday in the three-phase elections held for the seat. These two districts are pivotal for former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, especially with the voter turnout being very low in the first two phases.
With the first two phases over, the mainstream political parties are now focusing on Pulwama and Shopian districts. On Tuesday, National Conference president Farooq Abdullah had held a rally in Shopian at a very high security zone. Today, NC vice president Omar Abdullah had addressed a rally of workers inside the party office which is located in a high security zone.
So far, the election fervour has been completely missing in the towns or villages of the two districts with the buntings and occasional flags being visible only in the offices of the political parties. Though 18 candidates are in the fray, only a few of them have chosen to visit the militant-infested districts to campaign and that too over the past few days.
“People hesitate to take part in the meetings of political leaders and a majority of the people prefer to remain aloof from the election process,” said Showkat Ahmad, a local journalist.
J&K Pradesh Congress president Ghulam Ahmad Mir also held closed-door meetings at Pulwama and Shopian towns in the last two days. “We have now started focusing on these two districts. We have to take precautions due to the presence of militants in these areas and most of our meetings are held behind closed doors,” Jammu and Kashmir Congress president, Ghulam Ahmad Mir said.
PDP leaders admit that polling will be very low in these two districts. “Everything is happening in these two districts and after talking to our workers and the common people we feel the polling percentage will be even lower than the first two phases,” said PDP youth president, Waheed ur Rehman Parra who hails from Rajpora area of Pulwama.
“I have been campaigning here for the party for the past few months but mostly they are closed-door campaigns,” he said.
Last week, Mehbooba Mufti had held a protest in Pulwama against the ban on the Jamaat-e-Islami. The protest was held on a very high security road. The PDP leaders say they are now focusing on small meetings instead of rallies. “Mehbooba Mufti held one rally in Shopian and the focus is on closed-door meetings,” another PDP leader said.
The BJP leaders too are taking all necessary precautions. BJP state spokesman, Altaf Thakur said, “We will not organise any rallies in these two areas, instead our focus will be on door-to-door campaigning. We launched our campaign yesterday only.”
The National Conference candidate from the Anantnag Lok Sabha seat, Justice (retd) Husnain Masoodi said the situation has been very bad in this part but the NC has tried to convey its message to the masses.
A senior police officer said so far the situation has remained peaceful in the first two phases. “We hope the last phase will also take place peacefully. There are a lot of challenges in these two districts which we are facing, but we hope that things will pass without any violent incident.”
The Anantnag district had recorded 13.63 per cent polling in the first phase and 10.32 per cent voting in the second phase which was held on Monday.
So far, the elections have remained violence free in the state.
