Pulwama/Shopian, May 6:Deserted polling booths, missing polling agents and scared polling staff — Pulwama and Shopian recorded the lowest turnout on Monday in the final phase of the polling. The day was also marked by militant violence and stone-pelting incidents.
The two volatile districts of Pulwama and Shopian, part of the Anantnag parliament constituency, recorded the lowest voter turnout of less than 3 per cent.J&K’s Chief Electoral Officer Shailendra Kumar said the twin districts recorded a voter turnout of 2.81 per cent.
“Shopian district polled 2.88 per cent votes, while Pulwama polled 2.14 per cent,” he said, adding that the aggregate voting percentage for the Anantnag parliamentary constituency was 8.76.
The turnout in the Valley has seen a constant dip since the first phase of the polling in north Kashmir’s Baramulla constituency that recorded 34 per cent turnout.
Voting fervour was missing in the two districts, the erstwhile bastion of the Peoples Democratic Party. A majority of the polling stations were deserted and the poll staff was sitting idle.
The polling began in volatile Pulwama and Shopian after late-night stone pelting at scores of places that left many, including poll officials, injured and torching of at least three government buildings in Rajpora, Qasbayar and Drubgam of Pulwama district.
Despite heightened security, militants made their presence felt as they lobbed at least two grenades towards polling stations in Pulwama. Unidentified men also hurled two petrol bombs in the poll-bound districts. Nobody was, however, injured in these incidents.
Fear, coupled with anger and alienation, were the main reasons for people to stay away from polling in the twin districts.
Sample this: Tucked away from the strategic Srinagar-Jammu national highway, a small hamlet of Lethpora looked desolate. Security forces outnumbered the voters and the polling staff remained idle most of the day, waiting for people to come and exercise their franchise.
Just 100 m from the polling booths was the spot where the Jaish-e-Mohommad suicide bomber Adil Dar rammed his vehicle into the CRPF convoy, killing 40 soldiers on February 14. Over two months later, tension hangs in the air and fear is palpable. Most of the people preferred to stay indoors, seemingly to avoid any trouble. Out of the 2,825 voters, less than 300 turned up on the polling day.
“We didn’t vote as our lives have been turned miserable after the Pulwama bombing,” said Altaf Ahmed at Lethpora.
Barely 15 km from Lethpora is Gundibagh, the native village of suicide bomber Adil Dar. No polling station was set up inside the village.
“We don’t know where our polling station is,” said a youth in the area.
The authorities had clubbed many polling stations amid fears of violence.
In the Kakapora area of Pulwama, 13 polling stations were set up inside boys higher secondary school Kakapora. At 11 am, out of over 8,000 votes, only four were polled.
In neighbouring Shopian, the other militant stronghold district, the voter turnout was also dismal. A group of youths, with masked faces, gathered on the main road in Shopian to block roads. There was complete silence as a few residents made their way to polling stations.
“We have poverty at home and we have been told that our problems will be solved. We have no big reason to vote,” said Shada Begum, 45, a resident of Shopian district.
In Zainpora’s Shopian, where the authorities airlifted the poll officials on Sunday due to the tense situation, locals were busy with their daily work.
Blast shadow on Lethpora turnout
- Like Pulawama and Shopian, Lethpora was no exception, with most polling stations remaining deserted
- The highway village where the deadly bombing took place had four polling booths housed inside a school on the edge of the highway, just metres from the blast site
- Mushtaq Ahmad, a 32-year-old Lethpora resident, said he voted for the first time. “Everyone is voting, that is why I came to vote,” he said
- Inside the polling station, staff was at ease. Ghulam Mohammad Mir, a presiding officer at booth no.57, said the day was quiet as 21 voters out of the total 742 cast their vote by mid-day. Another 13 had arrived by the time the voting was over
- At another booth, 43 out of 760 registered voters had cast their vote. At yet another, 67 out of 765 voters exercised their franchise. As many as 86 out of 858 electors turned up at the fourth one
- The meagre voting in Lethpora was still impressive by the standards that Pulwama had set in this phase as two of its Assembly segments did not cross the 1% mark by 3 pm, an hour before the voting closes, and many stations recorded no polling – Azhar Qadri
