Srinagar: Helicopters hover above, while the streets are empty in Srinagar district, which is one among three districts in central Kashmir – the others being Ganderbal and Budgam – where voting took place today (September 25) in the assembly polls for J&K.
In an era bygone, I recall that here there were closed shutters, tear gas shelling, rubber bullets, stone pelting and cordon-and-search operations; but this time it seems the anger of the people will take a democratic outlet rather than one of armed fighting.
I also travelled through the Dal Lake’s snaky waterways to a floating booth far at an island known as Kand Mohalla. Only the shikar boats can reach this place, a small hamlet where 1,069 people were eligible to cast their vote.
Meanwhile, a high-level delegation of senior diplomats from the following countries has travelled to Kashmir to witness the ongoing elections: the US, Mexico, Guyana, South Korea, Somalia, Panama, Singapore, Nigeria, Spain, South Africa, Norway, Tanzania, Rwanda, Algeria and the Philippines.
The delegation visited polling stations in Ompora (Budgam), followed by stops at Amira Kadal and S.P. College in Chinar Bagh. At S.P. College, delegates had the chance to visit a special pink polling station managed entirely by women.
National Conference leader Omar Abdullah said, “When foreign countries comment on human rights violations in Kashmir, government of India says, ‘it’s an internal matter’, so why are those representatives of foreign countries invited to see the election process?”
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Confusion occurs at a as people check their names at a polling booth in Nowhatta, where elections were once boycotted.
Rukhsana said she feels inflation is more of an issue in this election that violence.
Diplomats from 15 countries have arrived in Kashmir to observe voting.
Diplomats from Tanzania and Rwanda look around at a pink polling station.
An octogenarian arrives at a polling booth to vote for the first time in 20 years.
Women participate in voting in Srinagar city.
Farooq Abdullah arrives to vote at the Burnhall school in Srinagar with his son Omar, who is a candidate from the Ganderbal seat in this election.
Voters queue up at the floating booth in the Kand Mohalla area in Dal Lake.
Women vote at the booth in Kand Mohalla.
People arrive to vote at the floating booth in the Kand Mohalla area.
Jorgen K Andrews, deputy chief of the US embassy in India, speaks to locals in Kand Mohalla.
A child stands next to a CAPF soldier at a booth in Dal Lake.
Voting in progress. There is sizeable participation by women.
A Mexican diplomat clicks a picture at a pink polling booth in Srinagar.
A Spanish and a Mexican diplomat speak to voters.
People check their name in the voter roll in Nowhatta.
All photos by Shome Basu.