While brisk polling took place in five districts, there were no long queues in Srinagar where the poll percentage for eight seats stood at 29.24%. A team of foreign diplomats visited a few polling stations and found it "heartening" to see Kashmiris casting their votes after 10 years.
The US Deputy Chief of Mission Jorgan K Andrews, who was among them had this to say, "It has been excellent and fascinating to see how India organises its elections and how thorough the preparations are. It has been very inspiring".
The turnout was good in three violence-hit districts of the Jammu region :-
* Reasi (74.14%)
* Poonch (73.78%)
* Rajouri (69.84%)
Even Ganderbal (62.63%) and budgam (61.31%) in the Kashmir region did well.
The Shri Mata Vaishno Devi seat in Reasi district recorded the highest voter turnout of 79.95%.
In Srinagar, which has remained a hot bed of separatist politics, people came out to vote for the first Assembly polls without any poll boycott or militant threat.
"It is the first time that I am casting a vote. There are no jobs, power bills are very high and youth are falling to drugs. We hope that the elected government will provide some relief to the population", said Javed Ahmed, a resident of Nowhatta area of Srinagar.
Nowhatta was once a stronghold of militants and separatists where stone pelting used to take place every Friday.
My take
What would be the outcome of the elections in J&K? I hope the Congress-NC alliance doesn't come to power because it has promised to bring back Art 370 and has a pro-Pakistan line.
PM Modi's efforts in bringing back normalcy in J&K should not suffer a setback. The Abdullahs, the Muftis and what have you, must lose, for the good of the union territory.
Tailpiece.
Got up at 5, the chores and was ready by a quarter to 10.
Lekha had gone across to the Thampuranpady junction to buy fish for us and the cats.
The maid was at work.
Ramesh had fetched up with his assistant, Abhinand, to set up the garden.
No comments:
Post a Comment