Electors queue up in J-K's Pulwama, say vote a powerful weapon

At the gates of polling centres in this south Kashmir district infamous for terrorism and stonepelting enthusiastic voters queued up on Monday to exercise their franchise with a sense of ease in the absence of a separatistsponsored boycott call and fear of violenceWe have had enough We want change Vote is our biggest weapon It is a powerful weapons which will help us find solutions to our problems Vote is our right Shakeel Ahmad Para a voter at a polling booth here saidPolling in Jammu and Kashmirs Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency is being held in the fourth round of the sevenphase Lok Sabha elections 2024This is the first major election in Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370 which granted special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir The article was revoked in 2019 leading to the bifurcation of the state into Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and LadakhAt another polling station in Tahab an elderly person who did not wish to be named said he was voting for the first time in his lifeThis is for the first time I am voting Previously we stayed away from the exercise as we had no benefit This time we have our own candidate he said referring to PDPs Srinagar candidate Waheed ParaThe enthusiasm to vote for the Peoples Democratic Party PDP youth leader was visible as men and women young and old alikecame in droves to vote at their designated polling stationsPara is pitted against National Conferences influential Shia leader Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi and Apni Partys Ashraf MirThere are a total of 24 candidates in the fray for the constituency which was redrawn after the delimitation exercise was undertaken recentlyAt the polling station in Govt Girls Model Higher Secondary School Naira located in Paras neighbourhood voters lined up early in the morning most foregoing breakfast to cast their ballotsAbdul Razak who was among the first few voters at the polling booth said they want to send an honest voice to ParliamentWe want to elect a young and an intelligent honest person who understands the problems of the local people and will work for their betterment especially of the youth he saidRazak said it is for the first time that the voters here have got an opportunity to send a young voice to Parliament We understand his Waheed Para ideology and vision I appeal to the people to vote If we do not vote today it is our loss We havent been able to raise our voice for a long time Its an opportunity to send someone as our voice to Parliament he saidFor the past many years the elections in this district have been marred by terrorismrelated violence instances of stone pelting and boycott calls by separatist groups Notably the heads of several terrorism groups including Burhan Wani Reyaz Naikoo and Zakir Musa also belonged to this districtThis time around there has been no election boycott call in the area as yet and voters say they are also seeing an improvement in the security situation This combined with Paras candidacy is expected to result in a higher voter turnout in the Lok Sabha elections 2024Another firsttime voter Ghulam Mohiddin Ganie said that boycott serves no purpose nowWe used to boycott elections But now the situation is such that we are facing onslaught on many fronts and so the boycott and stone pelting will not work Our sufferings will ease only when we elect our representative and he raises our issues in Parliament Ganie saidAbdul Aziz Shah while standing in a queue at a polling booth said the voters here were feeling a sense of ease this electionWe have witnessed unfavourable situation for many years There used to be fear among the voters but the situation has improved now and there is no fear We are feeling at ease he saidMost of the people in the queue were firsttime voters and were excited to exercise their right to franchiseRumi Jan a 22yearold woman said she was voting for the redressal of the issues of the peopleWe want a local candidate who is familiar to us and who is young and educated Jan saidAnother firsttime woman voter Roohi said that boycott was a thing of the past and now there is no fear among people as they line up at polling boothsIn the first two hours of voting the two polling booths at Naira and Tahab recorded 132 and 128 votes respectively While females 71 outnumbered men 61 at Naira 77 men and 51 women cast their votes at Tahab polling boothHowever the PDP candidate who cast his vote at Naria claimed that slow voting was taking place deliberatelyThere is an effort to subvert the election process Attempts are being made to discourage voters and disturb them on many pretexts There are some officials within the system who are doing that Para said hereHe said the queues of the voters should have been taken as an encouraging sign but unfortunately some officials are trying to subvert whole election processPara however added that he is confident that this elections would record a high voter turnout for the first timeThis story has been sourced from a third party 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