Once a Militancy Hotbed, Why South Kashmir Turned Out to Vote in Large Numbers

With 53 percent voter turnout, the final phase of voting in Anantnag-Rajouri seat has taken everyone by surprise.

Anantnag: Women wait in a queue at a polling station during the sixth phase of Lok Sabha elections, in Anantnag district of south Kashmir, Saturday, May 25, 2024.

(Photo: PTI)

On 25 May, voters formed a long line outside the polling station in the Chakpath area of South Kashmir’s Anantnag district. Some people this reporter spoke to said that they never thought the residents of this area would turn up in such large numbers to cast their votes.

The streets across most of South Kashmir were deserted due to the holy day. Shops and other business establishments were closed. Traffic was moving normally, and voters were slowly making their way to polling stations.

The area had consistently supported election boycott calls from separatists, and during the 2019 parliamentary elections, in a village that this reporter visited, only 41 out of 750 residents voted.

At 12 pm, over 200 people had voted amid the scorching heat wave. “As the temperature came down by 3-4 pm, more people came and exercised their right to vote,” said Ali Mohammad Mir, 60.

At the end of the day, over 500 votes were polled in the village, an official confirmed.

Polling for the five Lok Sabha seats in Jammu and Kashmir concluded on Saturday, with the final phase in the Anantnag-Rajouri constituency recording a turnout of about 53 percent. The strategic Anantnag-Rajouri seat saw a triangular contest between former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, National Conference’s Mian Altaf Larvi, and the BJP-backed Apni Party’s Zafar Iqbal Manhas.

A polling station in Chakpath.

(Photo: Author)

Notably, the BJP had withdrawn from contesting three seats in the valley "fearing defeat," but unofficially supported Sajad Lone of the People's Conference and Altaf Bukhari of the newly created Apni Party.

With the conclusion of the Lok Sabha elections in J&K, it has registered an unprecedented 58.11 percent polling in its five constituencies. The Election Commission on 27 May said Jammu and Kashmir recorded the highest voter turnout in a Lok Sabha poll in the last 35 years.

On 25 May, polling was held in the districts of Anantnag, Kulgam, and Poonch, besides Shopian and Rajouri districts. Authorities arranged wheelchairs and volunteers for the elderly and those in need. All polling stations were adorned with festive decorations.

This Lok Sabha election was the first since the revocation of the special status of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir on 5 August 2019.

Not only Chakpath village but several villages in southern Kashmir, which were once known as hotbeds for militancy with a history of boycotting elections, turned up to cast their votes on Saturday.

In the Shangus village of Anantnag, most people asserted that they voted for development while hoping that the incoming government would reduce inflation.

A polling station in Shangus. 

(Photo: Author)

“Look at the prices of vegetables, gas, and other essentials. We want a government in New Delhi that will bring relief to the Aam Aadmi (common man),” said Fayaz Ahmad Bhat, who owns a walnut business in the village.

The village, according to locals, had always stood with regional parties, be it the National Conference (NC) or the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). “We never boycotted elections, but this year more are turning up to vote,” said Riyaz Ahmad, a shopkeeper from the village.

However, most of the villagers The Quint spoke to maintained that they were upset with the abrogation of Article 370 and that they cast their vote to strengthen the regional parties.

Others argued that in the past few years, a number of developmental projects have remained pending and can only be completed once “their representative” comes to power.

“When we go to our local representatives for any grievance redressal, we return disappointed as they are unable to do our work,” said Malik, a farmer. He further added, “They are powerless—thus helpless.”

According to official figures, the Jammu division of the Anantnag-Rajouri seat saw an increase in polling, with most of the segments witnessing about 60 percent turnout, while in Kashmir, almost all the segments witnessed a 30-55 percent turnout. Mehbooba Mufti’s home constituency of Srigufwara-Bijbehara recorded only 42.4 percent, with leaders alleging that their workers were detained by the J&K police a day before the elections.

The Anantnag parliamentary seat was merged with the Rajouri seat in May 2022 by the Delimitation Commission while re-drawing the political map of Jammu and Kashmir. Before that, the Jammu division, which is dominated by Hindus, had only two Lok Sabha constituencies—Jammu and Udhampur—while Kashmir had three (Srinagar, Baramulla, and Anantnag). The commission then merged Anantnag with Rajouri to balance the representation. However, political parties in the valley allege that this was done to favour the BJP in the polls.

South Kashmir also witnessed a good number of first-time voters. The key issues, according to them, are unemployment, adverse police verifications, and the reservations that were recently granted to a section of the tribal population.

The BJP-led government provided Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to the Paharis early this year – a move seen as an attempt to please the community for the election. This move provides reservations in jobs, educational institutions, and in the J&K legislature under the ST category (10 percent in J&K). Rajouri, Poonch, and other areas of the Jammu division have a good percentage of the Pahari tribe. However, the BJP failed to put up a candidate from the Rajouri belt.

For many, the move was against the open-merit students who would find it very difficult to get jobs and secure admission to educational institutions. “This is the biggest injustice done by the government,” said Zameer Rashid, a student from the Bijbehara area of South Kashmir. Like Rashid, dozens of youngsters that The Quint spoke to pin their hopes on a new government.

Recently, the Anantnag-Rajouri seat witnessed back-to-back terror incidents that claimed the lives of an Indian Air Force soldier and a former BJP sarpanch. Militants also shot two tourists in Pahalgam. However, on voting day, the electoral process ended without any violence or untoward incidents with tight security arrangements ensured by the authorities.

(Auqib Javeed is a Srinagar-based journalist. He tweets at @AuqibJaveed. This is an opinion piece. The views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)