When Srinagar would witness 80% to 90 % Voting !

Srinagar has been a traditional stronghold of the National Conference, but after the arrest of Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, the National Conference was converted into Mahaz-e-Raishumara (Plebiscite Front) and most of its leaders would boycott the local assembly elections like what Hurriyat was doing in the recent past. These elections right from 1957 to 1977 had been allegedly rigged. In fact 1987 was also allegedly rigged which gave rise to militancy in J&K.

In J&K the Assembly Elections were held in 1957,1962,1967, 1972,1977, 1983,1987,1996,2002, 2008, 2014. In 1951 the first election for state constituent assembly was also held. The ongoing election is 13th election. The elections in J&K had huge participation especially during 1977, 1983 and 1987 . Srinagar district which completely boycotted elections post 1990s would witness even 80 to 90 % voter turnout in some assembly segments but that was as less as 3 to 4 % in 2002 especially in the Khanyar, Zadibal and Amira Kadal assembly segments of Srinagar’s old city (Down Town).

Zadibal Assembly Constituency

Zadibal assembly segment was represented by Saleem Anwar Dhar, an independent candidate in 1972. He had secured 6173 votes out of 18692 votes that had been polled. Another independent candidate Aga Syed Afzal Jalali secured second position with 3491 votes. There were around 32,000 registered voters in Zadibal in the 1972 assembly election. Sadiq Ali who was later on elected as MLA of the area from National Conference in 1996 had first time contested from Zadibal seat as an independent candidate and had secured 753 votes. In 1977 historical elections which is said to be a transparent election held in Kashmir’s history , sitting MLA of that time Saleem Anwar Dhar lost to his nearest rival Ghulam Ahmad Shunthoo who was a National Conference candidate . Shunthoo had secured 23,401 votes while Saleem Anwar who was contesting on Janata Party ticket gave a tough fight to NC’s candidate by getting 21,522 votes. More than 81 % polling was recorded in 1977 in Zadibal. There were 56400 registered voters in this assembly segment out of which 45,392 voted. In 1983 assembly elections National Conference candidate Sheikh Abdul Rashid who was a close relative of Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah and Dr Farooq Abdullah got almost 50,000 votes which is a record in Kashmir’s electoral history. Sheikh Rashid got 88 % of the total votes and the polling percentage was 88.93 %. During the infamous 1987 assembly elections there were only three candidates in the fray namely Peer Mohammad Shafi NC , Peer Abdul Rouf Independent and A R Wani independent. Peer Mohammad Shafi secured 27,316 votes while his nearest rival Peer Abdul Rouf who was the candidate of Muslim United Front-MUF managed to get 22,121 votes. A R Wani got only 755 votes. The polling percentage in 1987 elections in Zadibal assembly constituency was more than 71 %.

Khanyar, Amirakadal Assembly segments

Right from 1960 Khanyar assembly constituency has witnessed brisk polling. This continued till 1987 and then there was a huge decline in voting percentage as people chose to boycott these elections. In 1972 Jamaat e Islami candidate Qari Safudin who later on became Jamat Qayyim ( General Secretary) also won election from Khanyar. He secured 9530 votes and his nearest rival Abdul Rahman Gazi managed to get only 2176 votes. Gazi was a staunch NC leader but in 1972 he was contesting as an independent candidate as his party was boycotting elections. In 1972 more than 62 % polling was recorded in Khanyar. Similarly in Amira Kadal assembly constituency around 71 % polling was recorded in 1987 elections. Ghulam Mohidudin Shah won the election against Mohammad Yousuf Shah alias Syed Salahuddin who later became Chief of Hizbul Mujahideen. It is alleged that Mohammad Yousuf Shah was winning that election and there was a massive rigging and Yousuf Shah was tortured and kept behind bars by authorities. Ghulam Mohiuddin Shah had won 1977, 1983 elections and had been jailed with Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah. In spite of the fact that his own brother Ghulam Mohammad Shah revolted against the National Conference in 1984 and became CM with the support of Congress, Mohiuddin Shah never became part of that revolt and was always loyal to Dr Farooq Abdullah. But in the ongoing elections his son Irfan Shah was not given mandate from Central Shalteng as Congress leader Tariq Karra is the joint candidate of NC-Congress alliance.

In 1987 NC candidate from Amira Kadal Ghulam Mohiuddin Shah got 19,567 votes while Mohammad Yousuf Shah @ Salahuddin got 15,278 votes. In 1983 around 73 % votes were cast in Amirakadal and in 1977 this percentage was 74. It came down to 11 % in 1996 assembly polls and mere 3 % voting was recorded in 2002 elections.

Conclusion

After the 1987 assembly elections the voting percentage came down considerably in Kashmir especially Srinagar as the majority of the people boycotted these elections. In Srinagar I believe the polling percentage will increase in the upcoming elections as people want to vent anger against the authorities through ballot. It is expected that around 50 to 55 % votes will be cast in district Srinagar on September 25^th.

Dr Raja Muzaffar Bhat is an Acumen Fellow. He is Chairman and Founder of Jammu & Kashmir RTI Movement