Mehbooba Mufti, the last Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir, has alleged that the local administration of the Union Territory has been terrorising voters and that an FIR has been filed against her for "speaking the truth". The FIR against the PDP chief comes barely days after he staged a protest during the sixth phase of polling in the Lok Sabha elections 2024. Mehbooba Mufti contested the Anantnag-Rajouri seat, which went up for grabs in the sixth phase of polling.
According to election authorities in Kashmir Mehbooba Mufti violated the Model Code of Conduct and Section 144 by staging the protest in the Bijbehara area of south Kashmir's Anantnag district, reported news agency PTI.
Prohibitory orders under Section 144 CrPC from 6 PM on May 23 till 6 PM on May 25 to ensure peaceful and fair polling.
Mufti on May 25 staged the dharna (protest), accusing the police of detaining her party's workers and polling agents without citing any reason. On Wednesday, Mufti posted on X: "Amusing to find an FIR filed against me for apparently flouting MCC. This is the price PDP has paid for speaking truth to power. Our protest was against GOI in cahoots with local administration for detaining hundreds of PDP polling agents & workers in the hours leading upto voting. Still not satisfied the same administration went onto launch Cordon & Search Operations in traditional PDP stronghold areas to terrorise our voters and prevent them from exercising their right to vote. Ulta chor kotwal ko daante. [sic]"
In an exclusive interaction with ABP LIVE after casting her vote on May 25, Mehbooba Mufti said: "To see this kind of activities where PDP polling agents and workers were detained 12 hours before polling, terrorising people and making them scared is not the right thing to do so that they do not come for voting fearing the fact that Mehbooba Mufti will win and enter the Parliament … PDP is deliberately targeted because we keep our point of view clearly on all pertinent issues and raise its voice demanding justice, that's why BJP gets scared of us." She further said the Centre should “not meddle” in the politics of J&K.
“Please don’t meddle with Jammu and Kashmir, already 1987 elections have resulted in massacre of people of J&K, including jawans from our own country so they should not meddle with the political and election process. They want to snatch the right to vote from Kashmiris. It is very unfortunate,” she said.
Responding to her allegations, the Anantnag police, said that the detentions were very few. "The detentions were restricted to those with a tainted past and based on credible inputs of potential threats to law & order and security on polling day," the police said in an X post. They said that most of those detained were over-ground workers, a term used to define people who aid militants or terrorists.
Reacting to the Anantnag Police's claims, Mehbooba Mufti's daughter Iltija Mufti said: "How dare you slander our boys? Our PDP workers held the Indian flag. They kept the Indian flag of democracy flying in Jammu & Kashmir."
She said that the polling percentage wasn’t as per the party's expectation in South Kashmir, the traditional bastion of the PDP. She claimed that this was because the administration had "terrorised" voters. "We live in a democracy. If a former elected CM is hitting the streets on the day of polling asking why her polling agents have been arrested... So, is she anti-national,” she asked.