Shristy Kamal, Pune
On Wednesday (September 18, 2024), 61.13 per cent of voters participated in the first phase of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly election, indicating a high turnout. With the Kashmir Valley areas impacted by militancy, this represents an improvement over the previous Assembly election held ten years ago.
With 80.14 per cent of the vote, Kishtwar district had the highest turnout while Pulwama had the lowest at 46.65 per cent. The chief electoral officer of Jammu and Kashmir, P.K. Pole praised the peaceful conduct of the election and confirmed that repolling wouldn’t be required. Chief Election Commissioner of India, Rajiv Kumar applauded the high voter turnout pointing out that the long queues of voters demonstrated the strong faith of the people of J&K in the democratic process.
Polling rates in the Chenab Valley, including Doda Kishtwar and Ramban, ranged from 68 to 70 per cent. In Kishtwar, the newly formed Paddar-Nagseni constituency stood out with 76 to 80 per cent of the vote. There was a noticeable turnout of women at the polls including three sisters in Bhaderwah Doda who voted despite having speech and hearing impairments. Due to independent candidates supported by the outlawed Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI), voter turnout in places like Pulwama and Shopian—frequently thought of as boycott-prone—soared.
Jel leader Ghulam Qadir Wani expressed his optimism that these elections would help combat corruption and bring political stability. In Kulgam, leaders like M. Y. Tarigami the leader of the CPI (M) faced off against JeI-backed candidates. PDP president Mehbooba Muftis’s daughter Iltija Mufti and youth leader Waheed-ur-Rehmaan Parra are the two prominent candidates running from south Kashmir. In Tarigami, there was a slight increase in attendance as compared to 2014. In south Kashmir, a lot of voters prioritized development concerns like access to clean water, cold storage for apples and improving hospitals and schools.
Though there was a lot of enthusiasm, some voters had doubts about actual change and expressed worries about the political climate after 2019. But CPI (M)’s Tarigami expressed hope saying that elections might make local problems go away and praised the government. Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha expressed his appreciation for the election and noted that it demonstrated the resilience of Indian democracy.