Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that the rise in voter turnout from 14 per cent in the past to nearly 40 per cent now in the Srinagar constituency of Jammu and Kashmir is the greatest testament to the success of the abrogation of Article 370.
Shah said that while people in the Kashmir Valley used to shout slogans for boycotting elections, all voters of extremist groups exercised their franchise in the elections this year. “All leaders of extremist groups voted. It does not matter to whom they vote. That is their right. But at least, they were part of the democratic process. Earlier slogans were shouted to boycott elections. Today elections were held peacefully,” the Union Minister said.
Noting that there was no instance of violence in Srinagar during the polls. Amit Shah also pointed out that, compared to the usual three per cent of voter turnout among displaced Kashmiri Pandits, more than 40 percent of them voted in the Lok Sabha elections in Srinagar. 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. The voter turnout in Srinagar was 40.94 per cent in 1996, 30.06 per cent in 1998, 11.93 per cent in 1999, 18.57 per cent in 2004, 25.55 per cent in 2009, 25.86 per cent in 2014 and 14.43 per cent in 2019.
Amit Shah dedicated J&K’s high voter turnout as the remarkable success of the abrogation of Article 370.
