Despite Election Day, Srinagar’s Voter Turnout Stalls at Just 29.24%

Voters line up at a polling station in Srinagar on .
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Residents of Srinagar district displayed a hesitance to participate in the electoral process on Wednesday (September 25, 2024), evident from a low voter turnout of 29.24%. This was despite the spirited and violence-free campaigning by various political parties during the second phase of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections.

Also read | Second phase sees over 56% voter turnout

The Srinagar district, which encompasses eight Assembly segments, was one of three districts in the Kashmir Valley, along with Ganderbal and Budgam, to conduct voting on Wednesday (September 25, 2024). Unlike the long lines seen in Ganderbal’s Kangan constituency, where polling reached 67.6% and Budgam’s Khansahib constituency, which recorded 67.7% turnout by 5 p.m., many polling stations in the old city experienced only a slow trickle of voters since dawn.

“Voting makes little sense for an Assembly stripped of power. It cannot restore what was lost on August 5, 2019. Our parties have betrayed us and let us down. There’s no one to trust anymore. Kashmir has endured immense suffering, yet we have received only humiliation instead of a dignified resolution,” stated Rafi Khan, a local from Srinagar’s Safakadal area. “I find no justification for casting my vote.”

Srinagar district’s voter turnout was 27.9% in the 2014 elections, slightly increasing to 29.24% in the current election. “Srinagar showed a 5% rise compared to voter turnout in the recent Lok Sabha elections,” remarked J&K Chief Electoral Officer P.K. Pole.

A segment of Safakadal, part of the Eidgah constituency, has suffered greatly due to three decades of militancy and unrest, remaining a stronghold for separatist supporters. Comparatively, Eidgah displayed a small rise in voter turnout from 27.79% in 2014 to 34.65% by 5 p.m.

Among the eight Assembly segments in Srinagar district, the Habba Kadal constituency saw a meager 15.8% turnout by 5 p.m., down from 21.01% in the 2014 elections. “New Delhi has deepened our sense of alienation with another act of betrayal in 2019. Our lands, jobs, and resources have been put up for sale. I voted in 2014 with the hope that things would change. Instead, the special status of J&K was revoked. Is this the justice that the people of Kashmir, who have suffered for three decades, deserve? New Delhi has taken us back to 1931, returning us to the era of Dogra rule,” lamented Hamid Ahangar, a shopkeeper from Zaina Kadal.

In Khanyar constituency, some voters expressed enthusiasm to “elect a new government that can reverse the changes implemented after 2019.” However, the overall voter response remained muted, with only 24% participating by 5 p.m. This constituency had a turnout of 26.12% in the 2014 elections.

Of the eight Assembly segments within the district, only two constituencies—Lal Chowk and Eidgah—succeeded in surpassing the 30% turnout mark by 5 p.m.