'Realised Violence isn't Going to Solve Problem': Over 58% Voter Turnout in J&K's First Election in a Decade

Buchroo, Kulgam: The first phase of the assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir recorded more than 58% voter turnout on Wednesday (September 18) with some pockets of South Kashmir, which had traditionally stayed away from the polls, registering high polling percentage.

In Kashmir Valley, the election was held in 16 constituencies which are spread in the volatile districts of Kulgam, Shopian, Pulwama and Anantnag, while in Jammu division voting was held in eight constituencies spread across the Chenab Valley.

While Inderwal assembly constituency in Jammu recorded the highest turnout of 80.06% followed by Padder and Kishtwar, Pahalgam assembly led in Kashmir Valley with 67.86% voter turnout followed by Kulgam with 59.58% and Kokernag with 58%. 

Among the prominent faces in the first of the three-phased election are the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI (M)) leader M.Y. Tarigami, two former chiefs of Jammu and Kashmir Congress, Ghulam Ahmad Mir and Vikar Rasool Wani, People’s Democratic Party (PDP) youth president Waheed Parra and the PDP president Mehbooba Mufti’s daughter Iltija Mufti.

The election is being held under the long shadow of political uncertainty with the Jamaat-e-Islami outfit, which was banned by the Union government in the run up to the reading down of Article 370 in 2019, also jumping into the electoral arena for the first time since armed insurgency erupted in Kashmir in 1990s.

According to political analysts, the first phase of the election in Kashmir is crucial from the Bhartiya Janta Party’s (BJP’s) perspective, which is banking on smaller parties and independents in the Valley as part of a larger political experiment to return to power in Jammu and Kashmir.

At a public school in Buchroo village of Kulgam, a long queue of voters, both men and women, waited restlessly outside the two polling stations that were set up for around 1700 voters, most of whom were exercising their franchise for the first time.

Buchroo has been a Jamaat-bastion and it is also home to Jamaat figure and two-time member of legislative assembly Abdul Razaq Mir who was assassinated by unidentified gunmen believed to be members of Ikhwan, the state-backed civilian militancy which was set up in the 1990s to crush militancy in Kashmir. 

“We have realised that violence is not going to solve any problem. We need leaders who can set up good hospitals and good educational institutions. From the past more than three decades, our (election) boycott helped corrupt people to come to power but not anymore,” said Abdul Rashid (name changed on request), a Jamaat activist, outside the polling booth. 

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In some Jamaat bastions of South Kashmir’s Kulgam district, which used to stay away from elections, some voters enthusiastically queued up outside polling stations in the three constituencies of D.H. Pora, Kulgam and Devsar to exercise their franchise.

“More than the card of religion, it is the development card which has worked for the benefit of Tarigami saheb. He has done exemplary work in the constituency and you will see its proof on the day when election results are out and he will be the winner,” said Abdul Majid Mir, a long-time associate of Tarigami. 

Tarigami is locked in an interesting battle with the Jamaat’s Sayar Ahmad Reshi but the low turnout on Wednesday in some Jamaat hotbeds of South Kashmir, exacerbated by an internal crisis the outfit has faced after it decided to participate in the election, could throw cold water on its plans to make a comeback in the assembly. 

“The Jamaat’s participation pulled voters to the polling stations in some pockets of south Kashmir including Yaripora, Bugam, Buchroo and Homshalibugh but how far they will influence the outcome of election remains to be seen,” said a political analyst, who didn’t want to be named. 

He said that the alliance of Engineer Rashid’s Awami Ittihad Party, who has made no bones about his political future, including a prospective coalition with the BJP, has dented the image of the Jamaat in South Kashmir to some extent.

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“Jamaat vote has religious overtones and the talk of Rashid’s alliance with the BJP hasn’t gone down with them which is perhaps the reason why the Jamaat voters didn’t exercise their franchise in large numbers,” he said. 

At a government-run school in Humshalibugh village, which was part of a separate assembly constituency, more than 30 percent voter turnout was recorded till 12 noon with 288 voters exercising their franchise out of 915. Outside, a group of youngsters leisurely milled around on the roadside, regretting the lack of development in the village which recorded near zero percent turnout in previous election. 

“We were promised a separate college and hospital but none of those promises materialised. Sadly, we couldn’t do anything about it. Our people behave according to the political winds without bothering about its impact or outcome which is why I didn’t cast my vote,” said Junaid Ahmed, an engineering graduate. 

At a polling station in Bijbehara constituency where Mufti’s daughter Iltija is locked in a tight contest with the National Conference’s Syed Bashir Ahmad Veeri, 38 males and 39 females had exercised their franchise out of 362 voters till 11 am. There were more media workers than voters at the polling station on Wednesday morning, waiting for the PDP chief and her daughter to cast their ballot.

“I didn’t vote but the day I get my voter card, I will vote for the PDP,” said a minor girl, who was accompanying her mother to the polling station in Bijbehara. 

The constituency was redrawn by the 2022 delimitation commission with the addition of some village of Homshalibugh constituency, which are Jamaat bastions, while the villages of Mattan, Hitmuda, Nambal and Akhoora, which are believed to be PDP strongholds are separated from Bijbehara and merged with Anantnag East constituency. 

This is the first assembly election in a decade during which Jammu and Kashmir has gone through a tectonic shift which has not only altered its constitutional relationship with the Union of India but has also stripped the powers of its assembly after the erstwhile state was downgraded into a union territory.

The second and third phases of the election will be held on September 25 and October 1, and the results are expected to be declared on October 8.