Date:25/12/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/12/25/stories/2008122550110100.htm

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Voters defy secessionists

Praveen Swami

Turnout in Srinagar rises dramatically from 2002 elections

— Photos: PTI and Akhilesh Kumar

CRUCIAL PHASE: National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah emerges from a polling station in Srinagar on Wednesday with wife Molly after casting his vote in the final and seventh phase of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections.

SRINAGAR: Defying calls from the secessionist leadership, a large number of people here exercised their franchise on Wednesday in the final phase of elections to the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly.

The voter turnout in Srinagar district’s 10 constituencies, estimated at over 20 percent by the State Election Commission authorities, was low compared to the 55 per cent-plus levels recorded elsewhere in Kashmir in the earlier six phases of polling.

However, the figures marked a dramatic rise from 2002, when secessionist calls and widespread violence saw just a few hundred residents casting their vote in many constituencies.

Sonawar, one of two constituencies chosen by the former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah for his re-election bid, saw more than 34 percent of voters exercising their franchise, up from just 3.06 per cent six years ago. The other constituency, Ganderbal, saw the turnout rise from 7.12 to over 27 per cent.

The former Chief Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad, and his wife Shameema Azad in Jammu after exercising their franchise.

Elsewhere in Srinagar, the picture was much the same. Batamaloo, which saw just 4 per cent of its voters exercising their franchise in 2002, witnessed 18 per cent turnout. In Khanyar too, it rose from just over 4 per cent to 15 per cent.

The turnout in the 13 constituencies in the districts of Jammu and Samba exceeded 60 per cent, in line with regional trends.

Government sources said the high turnout was facilitated by the success of the police and the CRPF in preventing terror attacks.

Fifty-five political leaders and activists were killed in jihadist attacks mounted in the course of the 2002 elections, most targeting the National Conference. Another 44 political activists were assassinated in terror strikes in the build- up to the election campaign and its immediate aftermath.

Little violence was seen on Wednesday.