Parties fear ‘cadre alienation’ after low turnout in Valley

Srinagar: Low voter turnout in Kashmir so far in the parliamentary elections has triggered concern among political parties, as a large chunk of their workers have also not come out to vote.
The sentiment of the parties is also shared by security agencies, which have prepared an internal note on the “causes of the low voter turnout” and “alienation within the cadre of the mainstream political parties”.

Jammu & Kashmir, which is under President’s rule, is holding elections in five phases for its six Lok Sabha seats. Three phases of voting are over and the administration under Governor Satya Pal Malik is satisfied to be able to conduct the process without any major violent incident. However, the nonparticipation of a large number of people has perplexed leaders.

“Somebody who has voted all his life for a party didn’t come out this time or couldn’t convince his family members to come out due to the prevailing situation in the Valley,” a police official posted in North Kashmir told ET.

In the Lok Sabha elections till now, North Kashmir witnessed around 35% voting, which dropped to 14% in Central Kashmir that includes the summer capital of Srinagar, where the turnout was just 7%. In South Kashmir — in the Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency there, elections are being conducted in three phases due to a volatile situation — only 13% of voters came out to vote in the first phase. Seeing the fall in the turnout so far, security agencies and political parties are predicting an even lower participation in the remaining two phases in Anantnag on April 29 and May 6. Ladakh, where polling is scheduled for May 6, is the only other constituency in the state where voting is yet to happen.

“National Conference workers came out to vote, but the voter in general is disillusioned and dejected with the kind of situation the PDP-BJP government created in the state after 2014,” former minister and National Conference provincial president Nasir Aslam Wani told ET. According to him, the “mainstream politics is limping back to normalcy” but issues like ban on travel on highways and law and order situation were causing voters to stay away.

The People’s Democratic Party’s youth president, Wahid Para, cited “encounters and violence” for the low turnout.

“This is boycott against every mainstream political party. The government is not interested in turnout and nobody is worried about the situation. They just want a process to be conducted,” said Para adding: “There should be an immediate end to hostilities and end to violence. People need a healing touch to recover and regain faith in the democratic processes.”