In J&K polls, a win for democracy

The three-phase Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections that concluded on Tuesday stand out for the absence of violence and allegations of coercion, the large voter turnout, widespread participation of political aspirants and parties, and intense campaigning on the ground. The Election Commission of India can rightfully claim credit for conducting this assembly election, the first in a decade in J&K and the first since Article 370 was revoked, in such an exceptional manner. (One trigger for the rise in militancy in J&K in the 1980s was the compromised assembly elections of 1987, which led to a massive disillusionment with electoral democracy.) Hopefully, the counting will held in the same spirit on October 8, and a government formed thereafter without any case for complaints.
Of the many takeaways from the polls, the high turnout across the Union territory, including in areas considered to be the hotspots of terror outfits, is the most remarkable one. The three phases saw 61.38%, 57.31%, and 69.65% polling respectively, which confirms that the high turnout in the 2024 general election (58.46%) was not an aberration but a broad trend that suggests enthusiasm about electoral democracy. The high turnout could also be because almost all political streams in the Valley, including the Jamaat-e-Islami, which had advocated poll boycott all these years, joined the poll process: In all, 873 candidates are in the fray for 90 seats. The Jamaat’s entry — associates of the banned outfit have contested as independent candidates or as allies of Engineer Rashid’s Awami Ittehad Party — is significant because this outfit has been the main ideological foe of the National Conference, which championed electoral democracy as the primary instrument to gauge people’s will and to provide political agency. The polling was smooth also because of the absence of terrorist activity. Security forces, especially south of Pir Panjal range, have been under stress due to frequent militant attacks from across the border. Their vigil, clearly, has helped in ensuring incident-free elections.
Voter enthusiasm could also be explained by the overwhelming demand for the restoration of J&K’s statehood, which almost all parties, including the BJP, seem to agree. All these augur well for the region. The challenge for the political class, of course, is to build on this overwhelming public trust in electoral democracy and affirm that the latter is indeed the best bet for addressing social concerns, meeting economic needs, and upholding political rights.