Srinagar polling kicks off amid allegation of ‘official interference’

According to official figures, the volatile pockets of Pampore witnessed 4.61% polling, Pulwama 5.14%, Rajpora 5.87%, Tral 3.70% and Shopian 7.03% till 9 a.m. All these areas witnessed a domination of militants in the past.

Voters, both men and women, started queuing up outside polling stations in the Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency on May 13 morning amid allegations of “official interference” by regional parties, the National Conference (NC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Over five percent polling was recorded till 9 a.m.

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Locals were seen converging on polling booths in volatile pockets of Pulwama, which recorded just around one percent voting in the 2019 Parliament elections.

“We are voting to end the onslaught. Our district witnessed raids by security agencies and slapping of the Public Safety Act on youths in the past five years. Voting is a means to bring a change and end the sense of fear,” said a young voter, in Karimabad, Pulwama.

Scores of voters in Srinagar pointed at the events of August 5, 2019 as their motivation to show up at the polling booths for the first time. “We are being dispossessed. We are voting to secure our rights,” a 62-year-old Nazir Ahamd, voting for the first time in 30 years, said at Srinagar’s Nowshera area.

According to official figures, the volatile pockets of Pampore witnessed 4.61% polling, Pulwama 5.14%, Rajpora 5.87%, Tral 3.70% and Shopian 7.03% till 9 a.m. All these areas witnessed a domination of militants in the past.

A sluggish start was observed in several urban pockets. Khanyar in the old city recorded zero percent voting till 9 a.m. The pockets of Chanapora and Habba Kadal saw less than three percent polling.