New Delhi
Better administration in the last four years, increased economic activity, effective counter-insurgency strategy and efficient poll-management are some key reasons for the record voter turnout in the elections to Srinagar and Baramulla Lok Sabha constituencies, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Jammu and Kashmir Pandurang K Pole told businessline in an exclusive interview on Tuesday.
Polling in the Anantnag-Rajouri seat, which is one of the three parliamentary constituencies of Kashmir, will be held on May 25. Of the total five, the two other seats of Udhampur and Jammu fall in the Jammu region of the UT.
The LS election is the beginning of cycle of polls that have been rolled out in the Union Territory. Next would be panchayat elections followed by assembly elections to meet the Supreme Court’s fixed deadline of September this year to realise statehood for Jammu and Kashmir.
“In the fifth phase polling in 49 seats, including in the Baramulla constituency of J&K, on Monday, people, even relatives of militant and hardliners, came out in large numbers, leading to the second highest voter turnout of 59 per cent, which was slightly less than 61.09 per cent polling percentage of 1984,” Pole explained.
Traditionally, voting in Srinagar has been low compared to Baramulla. While the highest polling of 72 per cent was in the Handwara assembly segment, the lowest of 39.77 per cent was recorded in the Gurez assembly seat of Baramulla parliamentary constituency since 30 per cent of people migrate and come down to Bandipore and Gandarbal adjoining areas to beat the harsh winter, the CEO said.
Similarly, Srinagar recorded 38 per cent voter turnout in the polling on May 13, which again was the second highest in the constituency post the 1996 elections, when it was 41 per cent.
This is in sharp contrast to the previous election, when there used to be no-go areas. This situation was prevalent even in the 2019 elections. For instance, the old town of Srinagar, which is called “Sahar-e-Khas”, was out of bounds for any electoral exercise, Pole recalled. Likewise, Sopore and Tral in Srinagar LS constituency were under the shadow of terror and due to that, the polling in the former was just four per cent in 2019, while it was 44 per cent this time, Pole pointed out.
He said all this has happened because there is no fear of terrorism anymore. There was no call to boycott elections, no shots were fired, shutters were also not pulled down, and political parties freely campaigned for their candidates in the Lok Sabha. Pole narrated..
“In the last five years, tourism has increased by four times. While there used to be about 6 lakh footfalls in 2019, it has gone up to about 25 lakh per year in 2023, which is bringing prosperity to people and a boost to the economy of J&K. All this has removed the engineered trust-deficit of people with the government of the UT,” he observed.
Pole said during the elections, Rouf Ahmad Lone, brother of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant Umar Lone, asked him to surrender, return to the family and facilitate peace in J&K.
Not just the terrorists’ families, but even youth and women emerged from their homes to vote in large numbers in this election.