PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday stated that the significant voter turnout observed in the Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency suggests that the people of Jammu and Kashmir are eager to send a message to the central government in Delhi, news agency ANI reported.
Speaking with media, she stated: "Polling which was held for (Srinagar parliamentary constituency) on Monday was very good as people could not exercise their democratic right to vote in the last five years. People wanted to send a message to Delhi (government at the Centre). The decisions you took following the abrogation of article 370 related to their land, state subjects and jobs were not accepted to them."
"I want to ask the Election Commission that polling was slowed down at places where people had gathered in large numbers apparently to vote for the PDP," alleged the PDP leader.
On voter turnout, she said: "The kind of situation which is in Srinagar, Pulwama is also prevailing in Anantnag, Kulgam. They want to send their voice to the Parliament".
The Srinagar constituency, which held its first Lok Sabha election after the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, witnessed a voter turnout of 37.99 percent, as reported by the Information and PR Department of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. This marks the highest voter turnout in several decades. Previously, voter turnout in Srinagar was recorded at 40.94 percent in 1996, 30.06 percent in 1998, 11.93 percent in 1999, 18.57 percent in 2004, 25.55 percent in 2009, 25.86 percent in 2014, and 14.43 percent in 2019.
Voting was conducted across the districts of Srinagar, Ganderbal, and Pulwama, as well as partially in Budgam and Shopian districts, at approximately 2,135 polling stations within the Srinagar parliamentary constituency. Additionally, 6,700 migrant voters exercised their voting rights during the election.