Azad among first to cast vote in Jammu

JAMMU: Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad was one of the first voters to exercise his franchise on Wednesday during final phase of the Jammu and Kashmir assembly polls, which Azad terms as "historic".

Flanked by his wife Shamima Azad, the former CM said, "These polls are historic as compared to 1996 and 2002 ones as the separatists' call for poll boycott has been rejected and people are no longer getting carried away by hollow slogans of
separatists or those parties trying to create a divide."
 
He was also optimistic of Congress's victory in state and said people will vote for development. "People have rejected negative politics based on regional and religious slogans."

Azad, who cast his vote at Raipur school in the city, said, "There will be no coalition with any party. We have the numbers".
    
Asked what Congress will do if it failed to get the magic figure, he said, "We had left about eight seats for like-minded groups and I think their support would be sufficient to form the government."

"These elections were a landmark one as far as the high voter turnout was concerned. It is vote for peace and development. They are not going to mislead by hollow slogans",
he said.

Azad further said people have shown strong faith in the democratic set-up, which was evident from the high voter turnout in the earlier phases. He said the Congress did not enter into post-poll alliance with NC and PDP.