This, noted a senior J&K government official, was despite the fact that these are the first elections to be held after the repeal of Article 370 and its time in the harsh winter.
While unsurprisingly the Jammu region saw a dynamic survey throughout the 8 phases of the DDC survey to record an overall participation of 68.43%, Kashmir Division It also saw voters lining up at the polling station in difficult snow-covered areas and contributing to the overall 34.41% turnout.
The surprise package in Kashmir was conventionally low voting areas like Srinagar, where 35.3% of the votes were voted, a big jump from 7.9% turnout in 2019. Lok Sabha poll and 14.50% in 2018 panchayat polls. Awantipora, which recorded 0.4% of polls in 2018 panchayat polls and 3% in 2019 parliamentary polls, recorded 9.9% of polls in polls of DDC. Anantnag also saw 24.9% of the polls this time, a big improvement over 9.3% of the 2018 polls and 13.8% of last year’s general election.
Even the foci of terror like Pulwama and Shopian posted 7.6% and 15.4% engagement respectively, which, while low, was much higher than the 1.2% and 3.4% engagement recorded in the 2019 Lok Sabha survey. Sopore witnessed a 23.8% turnout, higher than the 7.6% turnout in the Lok Sabha polls, but slightly less than the 26% turnout in the 2018 panchayat polls.
“The significant increase in turnout compared to last year’s Lok Sabha survey and 2018 panchayat surveys is significant for two reasons. First, the DDC elections were the first electoral exercise to take place after the repeal of Article 370 in J&K on August 5 last year. Second, the leaders of the Popular Alliance for the Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) (an amalgamation of multiple parties, including PDP and NC, which ran candidates in DDC polls) had initially claimed that no one would participate in these polls. The higher percentages counter the false narrative of the PAGD and confirm the aspirations of the Kashmiri people for a stronger grassroots democracy, ”said a state official.
Despite the terrorist threat in Kashmir, the DDC polls proceeded relatively peacefully except for a few grenade attacks on security forces and an attack on the Apni Party candidate in South Kashmir. A personal security officer for a former PDP leader was also killed in Srinagar. Interestingly, a major terrorist plot by Jaish e Mohammad to carry out strikes to coincide with the DDC elections was allegedly thwarted after four terrorists who had recently infiltrated from Pakistan were neutralized in Nagrota last month.
.
