Polling for the first phase of Assembly elections in Jammu & Kashmir and Jharkhand recorded a high voter turnout on Tuesday.
In 15 constituencies of Jammu, Ladakh and Kashmir Valley, 71.28 per cent polling was recorded till 5 pm and it was expected to go up as people were still queuing up to vote. This is way above the 52.63 per cent polling in the recently held Lok Sabha elections and 64.97 per cent polling in the 2008 Assembly elections in the State.
In Jharkhand, all the 13 constituencies were spread across the six Maoist-affected districts of Palamau, Gumla, Lohardaga, Chatra, Garhwa and Latehar. Polling was conducted between 7 am and 3 pm and touched 61.92 per cent, which was above the 58 per cent in Lok Sabha as well as 2008 Assembly elections.
In Kashmir Valley, the poll boycott call by the separatists was, at least unofficially, withdrawn. The BJP interpreted it as a sign of the declining clout of the Huriyat and the separatists.
“People here are clamouring for change. They believe Narendra Modi is the agent of that change. The Huriyat has withdrawn its poll boycott call because in any case the people were not going to listen to them,” said KK Sharma, co-convenor of the BJP’s central media cell who has been touring the State for the past 15 days.
Indeed, in Bandipora seat in the Valley, the polling percentage touched 70.3 per cent, a staggering increase as compared to the 35.24 per cent polling in this seat in the Lok Sabha polls. Even in the last Assembly elections, the highest in the seat was 59.76 per cent.
The Congress, PDP and the National Conference believe that the high percentage of polling in the Muslim-dominated seats of Jammu, such as Doda (76 per cent), Kishtwar (70 per cent), and Ramban (70 per cent), is a sign of the consolidation of Muslim vote in these seats.
“The BJP is banking on a split in the Muslim vote and consolidation of Hindu votes in these seats. But this is not happening, as is clear from the voting percentage,” said a Congress source.
That, however, has to be analysed in the light of the fact that all these constituencies in the Jammu region had recorded very high percentage of polling during the Lok Sabha elections as well.
Kishtwar had polled 76.8 per cent vote in the Lok Sabha elections while the numbers for Doda and Ramban were 70.28 per cent and 69.48 per cent respectively. The BJP had won both the Jammu and Udhampur seats in the Lok Sabha polls.