J&K witnesses historic assembly elections with huge public participation

Jammu and Kashmir witnessed unprecedented public participation in the recently conducted assembly election. The assembly election was conducted after ten long years and was held in three phases. The overallvoting percentage of the three phases was recorded at 63.45 per cent. Inthe first phase of voting, the percentage was 61.38 per cent, in the second phase it was 57.31 per cent while in the third and final phase percentage was 68.72.

The poll panel called the exercise ‘historic’ with no re-polls and overall voting beating Lok Sabha elections 2024 numbers. This was also the first assembly election in the UT after the abrogation of special status under Article 370 in August 2019.

One of the most important candidates in this election is former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah, for whom it is a battle of prestige. Omar is contesting from two seats - Budgam and Ganderbal. Omar Abdullahlosing the recently held parliamentary elections from the Baramulla constituency has put a question mark on his political career. His losing the seat to Engineer Rashid has jolted his confidence, and that is why he has been forced to fight from both Ganderbal and Budgam seats, which are considered National Conference strongholds.

The other prominent names in this assembly elections are Iltija Mufti, Mehbooba Mufti's daughter, who is fighting her first election from a PDP's Bastion seat of Bijbehara. Iltija is also under tremendous pressure to continue the Mufti Legacy in Politics. Other names include Sajad Gani Lone of the People's Conference, Ravindra Raina of BJP, Muzaffar Hussain Beig as Independent, Ghulam Ahmad Mir of Congress, Raman Bhalla of Congress, and Tara Chand.

Since the election was announced, the whole Union territory turned into a festive mode. Campaigning by every political party was done in every nook and corner of the UT. From Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Opposition Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi, all the big leaders were seen campaigning for their parties during the assembly elections. Omar Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti, Ravindra Raina, Tariq Hameed Qarra, and Iltija Mufti were campaigning aggressively in every part of the UT.

Witnessing continuous attacks and ambushes in the Jammu region in recent months, security was one of the major concerns for the security forces in Jammu and Kashmir. Areas close to the Line of Control and International Border were put on high alert, and a three-tier security system was put in place around every polling booth in the region. There was zero violence recorded across the three phases of the assembly elections. An additional 300 companies of Paramilitary forces were posted in Jammu and Kashmir during the election.

The election and results this time are so unpredictable that no one knows who will be celebrating when the EVM boxes will be opened, and counting will start. Will it be a national political party like Congress or BJP, or a regional party like NC or PDP? There is no one that can predict the victory and losses this time.