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| Enthusiasm missing in south Kashmir LS polls | | | Wajahat Shabir
Early Times Report
Anantnag, Apr 23: Walking down the lane of south Kashmir, one finds more security forces than voters' as most volatile zone of Kashmir went for parliament election on Tuesday. More than 100 extra companies were forwarded to the area to maintain law and order situation.
South Kashmir holds a special position to the People's Democratic Party (PDP) whose president Mehbooba Mufti is fighting the parliament election from Anantnag. But political experts believe that this time around Mehbooba may face a major challenge because of her alliance with the BJP in 2014 to form a coalition government.
Ahmed (name changed), in mid-20's said, "We made mistakes last time by voting for the PDP. They backstabbed us and played with our emotions. It will be a stupid thing to vote for the PDP. We want to see better things prevail in south Kashmir."
He added: "We see curfews and nocturnal raids. We want an end to this problem as soon as possible." Pointing toward security forces, he said, "Look at this, here you have more security forces than voters. It is quite astonishing to see such kind of environment."
Few meters away from Ahmed, lies a polling booth, which was yet to open account of any voter. Poll staffer fixed their eyes on the door expecting voters to cast their votes, but things were turning otherwise.
Staffers were seen carrying voters list in their hand, but voters did not turn out. At some polling booths voters were seen coming in the breaks. There were some voters hiding their faces, fearing they may be abused if the face is revealed.
Sanaa, an aged woman, said: "I have been voting in parliament and assembly election. I want to see an end to the killings that have gone for ages. Youth should come forward and vote. Voting can change our future."
Notably, Anantnag witnessed 13.6 voter turnout on Tuesday. |
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