3.9 Mln People To Cast Their Votes In Final Phase Of Kashmir’s Crucial Election

SRINAGAR, (Jammu and Kashmir), Oct 1 (Bernama-Anadolu) -- Voters in Indian-administered Kashmir headed to the polls Tuesday in the third and final phase of a crucial election that will decide the fate of 415 candidates, Anadolu Agency reported. 

More than 3.9 million voters are eligible to cast ballots for 40 assembly seats across seven districts in the region -- three in the northern districts of Kashmir province and four districts of Jammu province.

Nearly 9 million people are registered nationwide to vote for the 90-member Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly. The seats are distributed between the two areas comprising the union territory -- 47 for Kashmir and 43 for Jammu.

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The first phase witnessed a high turnout of 61.1 per cent, according to the Election Commission of India. The second phase’s turnout was 56.79 per cent, pulled down by a low turnout of 29.24 per cent in the eight constituencies of the capital Srinagar. Counting of the votes will be held on Oct 8.

The highlight of the final phase is the surge in support for the Awami Ittehad Party, led by Sheikh Abdul Rashid, popularly known as Engineer Rashid, who won a seat in the Indian parliament this year despite being jailed on terror funding charges.

He was surprisingly granted bail on Sept 11 to campaign for his party. Jailed since August 2019, his bail ends on Oct 2, leading his opponents in Kashmir to link him with India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BHP).

Upon his release, he told reporters: “I am committed to fighting for my people. I am coming back to unite people and not divide them...I will fight the prime minister's narrative of Naya Kashmir. I want to bring everlasting peace to Kashmir and prove that Kashmiris are not stone pelters. But we will not compromise with our political rights.”

The election holds even greater significance as it is the first since India scrapped the Muslim-majority region’s special autonomy in August 2019.

Between 2018 and August 5, 2019, New Delhi directly governed the region through a governor who held powers equivalent to an elected government.

It was then made a federally ruled territory and has since been under a lieutenant governor with even more powers, which prompted the region’s top pro-freedom leader, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, to stated that the “polls lost significance even before they began.”

The vote will lead to a limited transition of power from New Delhi to the local assembly, as Jammu and Kashmir will remain a union territory under direct federal control and the Indian parliament will be its top legislature.

-- BERNAMA-ANADOLU