3.62L vote to elect candidates; Pak refugees allowed to vote for first time
Celebrating the festival of democracy at the grassroots level, more than 51 per cent voters on Saturday stepped out of their homes ignoring poll boycott calls and chilly weather conditions to cast their vote in the maiden District Development Council and Panchayat bypolls being held for the first time after the reorganisation of the erstwhile State of Jammu & Kashmir into two Union Territories and the Abrogation of Article 370 and 35-A in August 2019.
The other highlight of the polls was healthy participation of the Pakistani refugees and women electorate in large numbers. The Pak refugees were deprived of their voting rights as long as J&K enjoyed the special status.
Addressing a press conference after the first phase of polling ended, State Election Commissioner KK Sharma said, “The first phase of DDC polls passed off peacefully across the Union Territory of J&K in which over 3.62 lakh voters participated”. He said barring one single incident of stone throwing by a youth no other major incident of poll related violence was reported from anywhere during the polling hours.
Sharma added, “Around 46.6 per cent women and 54 per cent male electorate came out to vote during the day”. He said Kashmir region recorded little over 40.65 per cent polling while Jammu region
recorded over 64 per cent voter turnout. Significantly, terror infested Pulwama district recorded the lowest voter turnout of 6.7 per cent.
In Jammu, a large number of first time voters belonging to the west Pakistani refugee community were upbeat as they were lined up outside the polling booths to elect their public representative in the District Development Council polls.
“It is a big day for us and our community. We are feeling empowered for the first time. We had never elected our local representative in the past, said a young female voter Sujata Bharti in Akhnoor.
President of the west Pakistani refugee action committee Labha Ram Gandhi said, “We have also fielded our candidates in the different phases. We are going to elect them and send them to the elected bodies to take decisions for the welfare of the poor people”. Voters belonging to all the age groups participated in the maiden polls and came out in large numbers to vote.
Among the senior citizens several centurions kept their date with the polling booth and walked on foot to cast their vote.
A 103-year-old Zaitona Bibi, assisted by her son’s granddaughter, visited a polling booth on foot in Gandoh tehsil of Doda to cast her ballot. She claimed since 1957 she has never missed any opportunity to vote. She said, every time I step out to vote I pin all my hopes on the winning candidate. “We are waiting for the basic amenities like safe drinking water, better health care and road network till date”.
A total number of 1427 candidates were in the fray which included 296 DDC candidates while over 7 lakh voters were expected to cast their vote. Voting took place on 43 DDC seats, 25 from Kashmir and 18 from Jammu region. The state election commission had made elaborate security arrangements across 2146 polling stations to ensure incident free polling.
In Kashmir valley, the Central kashmir district of Budgam recorded the highest voter turnout of 56.96 per cent followed by North Kashmir’s Kupwara district where 50.74 per cent voters stepped out to vote. Ganderbal district recorded 48.62 percent polling.Srinagar district witnessed 33.76 percent polling.
Out of four South Kashmir districts, considered hotbed of militancy, the three districts of Shopian, Anantnag and Kulgam recorded a relatively better voter out of 42.58, 43.32 and 34.35 per cent respectively while Pulwama, the fourth district recorded lowest voter turnout of 6.7 percent. The Shopian and Pulwama districts had earlier recorded less than 3 per cent polling in 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Even Anantnag district had recorded a little over 8 per cent polling during three phases in May 2019. Compared to previous polls held in Kashmir valley, the voter turnout recorded an upward trend.
In the recent 2019 Lok Sabha polls, only 19 per cent voter turnout was recorded across Kashmir valley. Significantly, it was 12 per cent less than the 31 percent voter turnout recorded in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
In contrast to this 2014, Assembly polls in J&k had witnessed voter turnout of 65 per cent during five phases while Panchayat polls in 2018 had witnessed over 74 percent voter turnout in Jammu and Kashmir.
In Jammu region the border districts of Rajouri and Poonch scored a march over other districts as they recorded 70.52 and 68.69 per cent voter turnout respectively. The highest voter turnout was reported from Reasi district as 74.6 per cent electorate stepped out to vote during the DDC polls. Jammu district recorded 61. 49 per cent polling while Udhampur recorded 57.13 per cent, Samba district recorded 68.6 percent and Kathua recorded 62.8 percent polling.
Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban recorded 64.49 percent, 55.16 and 64.21 percent polling respectively. The second phase of DDC polls is scheduled to take place on December 1.
