DNA Edit: Tryst with democracy – Voter turnout in J&K’s Panchayat polls spells hope

The Panchayat polls in Jammu and Kashmir has been an eye-opener of sorts. The overwhelming turn-out in the third phase of polling on Saturday — Kashmir recorded 55.70 per cent voting while Jammu region registered an 83 per cent turnout — proves that democracy is alive and well at the grass roots. The spontaneous engagement of the people with the ballot should silence those who have opposed sustained efforts to cultivate the culture of democracy in a strife-torn region. Voters braved militant threats to exercise their electoral choice. It didn’t deter the common man that the main regional parties, National Conference and the Peoples Democratic Party, had boycotted the polls. In the first and the second phases, the turn-out was 74.1 per cent and 71.1 per cent, respectively. 

What greater proof does Pakistan want that the people of J&K want to elect their own representatives and that no amount of fear or provocation would deter them. The impressive turn-out also stands in sharp contrast with the Urban Local Body polls when only 8.3 percent voting in Kashmir was recorded. While the government has taken sweeping security measures to ensure smooth elections, it also needs to ensure that the elected representatives are given adequate protection after the polls. Now that the terrorists have realised that threats are not going to work on Kashmiris, they might target the peoples’ representatives to derail governance at the local bodies. The youth of the Valley are spearheading a change, which explains why terrorists are going after them with vengeance. Their killing and abduction has become a new phenomenon in the Panchayat polls. While the shadow of the gun remains over the Valley, democracy has its day in the sun.