The alienation of the people is near total, as manifest in the abysmal turnout during the Srinagar byelection.
Eight civilians, including a 15-year-old schoolboy, killed in police firing; at least 300, including a hundred security personnel injured—but perhaps the most ominous signal from the still-to-be-concluded April 9 Lok Sabha byelection in Srinagar is the abysmal 7.1 per cent voter turnout.
It’s the lowest since the beginning of the turmoil in Kashmir in 1989, when Mohammad Shafi Bhat of the National Conference took Srinagar without contest, but the alienation of the people across the Valley was writ in the five per cent turnout in neighbouring Anantnag and Baramulla. Apprehensions of even greater violence and a more embarrassing rejection of the poll process forced the Election Commission of India to defer the other J&K byelection slated for April 12 in the Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency in volatile South Kashmir.
This story is from the April 24, 2017 edition of India Today.
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This story is from the April 24, 2017 edition of India Today.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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