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| Despite intimidation and violence, Valley reposes trust in Democracy | | Rural voter outclasses urban counterpart | | Kunal Shrivatsa
JAMMU, May 1: From bad to worse, the turnout of 26 percent in Srinagar Parliamentary constituency could not even touch or cross the figure of 28 percent voting recorded in Anantnag Lok Sabha seat on April 24.
If Anantnag Parliamentary constituency registered a marginal increase of around one percent from 2009 Lok Sabha elections, the voting in Srinagar segment remained almost static in comparison to the last Lok Sabha polls-2009 wherein 25.55 percent of voters exercised their right to franchise.
The low turnout in Srinagar Lok Sabha seat is yet another blow to the efforts of mainstream political parties viz a viz the authorities, who worked hard day in and day out to improve the participation level of the Kashmiri people in the electoral process.
The trend of low voting in the last two phases of the ongoing general elections in Kashmir valley suggested that electors in this part of the country so far remained disconnected and refused to play a pro-active role in the world's biggest democracy.
But, putting aside all negativity with regard to election process in Valley, the voting pattern in Srinagar Lok Sabha Parliamentary seat has some positives to offer as well since the voters in rural pockets unlike urban areas have come out to vote in good numbers despite poll boycott calls given by the separatists and brandishing of warning posters by the terrorist outfits.
The Srinagar Lok Sabha which comprises of 15 Assembly constituencies spread across three districts of Srinagar, Budgam and Ganderbal is a mix bag of urban and rural areas.
While the voters in Srinagar district, which consists of eight assembly constituencies is predominantly an urban area, almost abstained from the polling booths as a paltry figure of 11.46 percent of voting was recorded.
On the other hand, the enthusiasm of rural voters in Srinagar Parliamentary constituency was quite evident as the voters in Ganderbal and Budgam districts against all odds braced the election process.
The districts of Ganderbal with two assembly constituencies and Budgam having five assembly segments, which mainly consists of rural pockets, registered 45.61 and 39.50 percent of voting respectively, much higher than the Srinagar district.
Much to the chagrin of the separatists and terrorist outfits, the electors in assembly constituencies of Charar-i-Sharief in Budgam district and Kangan in Ganderbal district cast their votes without any fear or inhibition.
The high voting percentage of 69.8 in Charar-i-Sharief and 64 percent in Kangan indicated that the rural masses as compared to their counterparts in cities and towns are not averse to be a part of the mainstream political system.
The other rural population dominated assembly segments of Chadoora, Beerwah and Khan Sahib in Budgam district also recorded a fair percentage of voting if not healthy.
In Chadoora, 35.38 percent of electorate cast votes while the voter turnout in Beerwah and Khan Sahib stood at 32.64 percent and 28.83 percent respectively. |
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