Click to play videoSrinagar: Despite the volatile divide between Jammu and Kashmir (J&K)over the Amarnath land row, the much awaited Assembly election dates in the state have been announced by the Election Comission; however, the challenge is to ensure voter turnout.
Meanwhile, the election commission had a mean task convincing political parties.
Chief election commissioner N Gopalaswami says, ``To start with there were one no, one yes and one yes-no. After that, one no became one yes. So we have two yes and we have taken a risk."
The tipping point came with the National Conference (NC), till now a fence sitter, the party finally said it would contest the polls.
National Conference (NC) president Omar Abdullah says, “We will try to complete the elections in the regions where there is concern of early snowfall during winters.”
Ex Chief Minister of J&K Gulam Nabi Azad says, “We are happy that uncertainty is not more there.”
The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) however is dithering. The congress which doesn't hope to make a cut, having lost the political space already to the Hurriyat is open to the elections.
Comparisons will be drawn to the landmark 2002 elections that tilted international opinion in Kashmir's favour.
This time, the election will be held in seven phases as the number of security personnel will be stretched as the Kashmir elections are being clubbed with other assembly elections for the first time.
To overcome the Hurriyat boycott call to state officials, the EC is getting in 3500 Urdu speaking persons from other states.
Srinagar which expects a low turnout and Jammu a groundswell of support for the polls will vote together in the last phase balancing out the voter turnout.
Areas which will be snow bound like Kargil, Leh and Bandipore go to polls first.
Elections have finally been announced in Jammu and Kashmir despite fears of a low voter turnout.
However, the big challenge before the Election Commission is ensuring that the elections are free and fair and that the democratic process is not throttled.
(With inputs from Meetu Jain)
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