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Reacting to good voter turnout recorded in Jammu and Kashmir in Lok Sabha polls, People's Democratic Party (PDP) PDP leader Iltija Mufti said that People are expressing themselves through their vote and conveying the message that they have not accepted the abrogation of Article 370 by the government on 5th August 2019.
The Srinagar constituency, which saw the first general election after the abrogation of Article 370 in J-K, recorded 37.99 per cent voting, according to the Information and PR Department, Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. This is the highest voter turnout in several decades. "... People are expressing themselves through their vote. People have shown that they have not accepted the black decision taken on 5th August 2019... We have not been given the right to protest in the last five years. When Mehbooba Mufti goes to another state to protest, she is arrested. It's a healthy sign for democracy that more and more people are asserting their rights," said Iltija Mufti, daughter of PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti. Earlier, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti said that the record turnout witnessed in the Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency indicated that people of the Jammu and Kashmir wanted to send a message to the government at the Centre in Delhi. "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," Mufti told reporters here. "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 record polling in Srinagar, 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". Voting took place in the districts of Srinagar, Ganderbal, and Pulwama, and partly in Budgam and Shopian districts at around 2,135 polling stations across the Srinagar parliamentary constituency with 6700 migrant voters exercising their voting rights. In a post on X, the Information and PR Department, Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir said, "The fourth phase of voting for General Elections to 18th Lok Sabha concluded peacefully here today with a remarkable 37.99 per cent voting in the districts of Srinagar, Ganderbal, Pulwama and Budgam and Shopian partly. Kangan assembly constituency topped with 58.80 per cent." The PR department further said there were no reports of boycotts at polling stations and no polling booth recorded zero per cent voting. (ANI)
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