Polling in the fifth phase of the Indian parliamentary elections concluded on Monday, the highlight being the highest-ever voter turnout in the Baramulla Lok Sabha constituency at 59% on a peaceful, incident-free day.
The transition seems remarkable, keeping in view that north Kashmir was once a militant bastion caught in a terrible cycle of violence.
Apart from a record turnout among the majority Muslim community, Kashmiri migrant voters followed suit, with about 32% voting in Jammu on Monday. The numbers were slightly higher than 2019 and 2014.
“Thirty-two per cent polling was registered by Kashmiri migrants for the Baramulla Lok Sabha constituency,” Relief Commissioner Arvind Karwani told reporters. He said of the 20,333 eligible voters in the community, around 6,500 cast their votes.
Polling began at 7 am at 2,103 stations across the constituency, according to Karwani.
Despite the heat, migrating Kashmiri Pandits were out in great numbers to vote earlier in the day, voicing strong support for the establishment of
designated townships for their repatriation and rehabilitation, as well as the rebuilding of temples throughout the Valley.
However, several of them claimed that they returned without voting because their names were absent from the electoral records.
Twenty-eight polling stations were set up for migrants, including 21 in Jammu, four in Delhi, and one in Udhampur, as well as three auxiliary stations.
Meanwhile, what surprised political observers was the higher voter turnout of Sopore also dubbed fondly by the Kashmiris as Apple town and chota (small) London, once even chota Pakistan, for its militancy, and reluctance of its people to participate in democratic processes like voting.
In a dramatic turnaround this time, however, voters, notably the young, flocked to voting booths to exercise their franchise in a marked departure from the low participation seen in past polls.
Other former militant hubs known especially for ‘foreign terrorists,’ in the 1990s, the Sopore and Rafiabad localities saw a rebirth of electoral participation, with a high voter turnout.
Sopore is part of the Baramulla constituency and is also home to several thousand Kashmiri migrants.
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