Srinagar sees highest turnout in over 2 decades: ‘Vote in umeed of better future’

Confidence-building measures for candidates and voter outreach programmes also led to an increase in the turnout this time in Srinagar, officials said. (Express photo by Shuaib Masoodi)

Confidence-building measures for candidates and voter outreach programmes also led to an increase in the turnout this time, officials said. (Express photo by Shuaib Masoodi)

Efforts made by the Election Commission and political parties to encourage people to come out and vote bore fruit as the Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency saw a voter turnout of 36.1% at 5 pm – the highest in the last five elections.

Officials in the EC said they had made concerted efforts to facilitate campaigning and provide a secure environment for political activity. When Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar visited Kashmir in March to review preparations, all district magistrates were instructed to provide adequate security to candidates and provide approvals for holding events expeditiously, a source said.

Confidence-building measures for candidates and voter outreach programmes also led to an increase in the turnout this time, officials said.

National Conference candidate Aga Ruhulla Mehdi is taking on Peoples Democratic Party’s Waheed ur Rehman Para and J&K Apni Party’s Ashraf Mir for the seat, where a total of 24 candidates are in the fray.

People queuing up to cast their votes in Srinagar. (Express photo by Shuaib Masoodi)

People queuing up to cast their votes in Srinagar. (Express photo by Shuaib Masoodi)

Voters, young and old, called it a vote for “umeed (hope)”. “This is not a vote in protest against our past, it is a vote of umeed, of the hope of a better future,” said 62-year-old Ghulam Qadir Wani, who cast his vote at Dara.

He said that for the last ten years, people have been “bystanders” to the changing political landscape of Jammu and Kashmir, and casting their vote “returns a sense of control” to them. “If my family and I didn’t vote today, we would have felt defeated by our circumstances,” he said.

The Srinagar constituency’s boundaries were redrawn following a delimitation exercise by the Election Commission in 2022. In 2019, Srinagar saw a turnout of 14.43%. The figures for 2014, 2009, 2004 and 1999 are 25.86%, 25.55%, 18.57% and 11.93% respectively.

“We have been feeling disempowered since (abrogation of Article 370 in) August 2019. I’m here to elect my representative because this is the one thing that cannot be snatched away from me,” 25-year-old Muneeb Mushtaq said, standing in a queue outside the polling booth at Naira.

He said he has been keenly watching speeches by leaders of national parties, and feels that “saving the Constitution” is a crucial responsibility.

At Lassipora in Pulwama, 70-year-old Abdul Rashid Mir said that while sending three MPs from Kashmir may not make a big difference in a Parliament of 543 seats, strengthening regional parties to represent J&K still matters. “The protections that our regional parties can afford us, the way they can protect young people who are picked up every now and then, strengthening them is our responsibility,” he said.

Abdul Manan, a 26-year-old lawyer, walked up to a polling booth in Ganderbal for the first time. “After the abrogation of Article 370, a sense of uncertainty crept in among me and a lot of people from my generation. Today, I’ve cast my vote for the first time because I am concerned about the hardline politics that has taken over the rest of the country, and I am not unaffected by it. So I am executing my individual responsibility,” he said.

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