J&K polls: In Bandipora, even blast doesn't deter thousands from voting for 'change'

Bandipora: In yesteryears, Bandipora in Jammu and Kashmir was a militant stronghold. The town had made a name for itself in conflict lexicon for being the origin of conspiracy behind some of the deadliest suicide attacks against armed forces in Kashmir. On Tuesday, many in the town had left behind their past to vote, braving the biting chill that has surrounded the valley, in a highly charged political atmosphere where the BJP and PDP are set to play kingmakers in the next government formation. Polling was brisk in the morning in Bandipora with 15.44 percent votes polled as of 10 am. At 8:30 in the morning, there was a mysterious blast behind the Nowpora-B polling booth in the main town of Bandipora, a CRPF official said. [caption id=“attachment_1820781” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Picture by Sameer Yasir[/caption] No one was hurt in the explosion, the cause of which has not been ascertained so far. However, it didn’t deter people from casting their votes with many jostling for space inside the Nowpora polling station. “We are here to vote for change,” Abdul Rashid Shah, a resident of Bandipora town, told Firstpost, “even if we boycott polls, it won’t stop the government formation. So why not vote for an honest person and let him take charge of our grievances.” “Bandipora has already suffered a lot. We want development and prosperity. Our children need jobs, which is why we are voting,” native, Ajaz Ahmad Khan said, outside the polling both. Meters away from the Nowpora polling station in Bandipora, Gulshan chowk, which was once a symbol of separatism in Kashmir, is draped in the buntings and banners of almost every political party in the state, urging people to vote for them. Congress’s Usman Majeed is the incumbent MLA here. Majeed is reported to have rubbed shoulders with state BJP leaders and recently skipped his party president Sonia Gandhi’s rally in Bandipora. He is locked in an interesting battle with the People Democratic Party’s (PDP) Nizam-ud-Din Bhat. There are 13 candidates in the fray in Bandipora which has a total electorate of 98,375. But the real fight is between Bhat and Congress candidate and Majeed. “We are voting for development and the good work of Nizamuddin saheb (PDP’s sitting MLA). The government will be formed even if we don’t vote, so the best option for us was to vote and choose someone who is honest and dedicated so that he will develop our town,“Ghulam Rasool, 49, a PDP activist, said. A few kilometers away from Bandipora, in the Sonawari constituency, a polling official said voters had queued up since 6:30 in the morning, soon after Fajr prayers were offered. Inside a government school in the Saria Dangarpora polling station, within the first five minutes, over 20 people had already voted. The voting later picked up as more people poured out of their homes. Voting is expected to pick up in the day with many analysts predicting that the final percentage could surpass all the previous records. “At least I am optimistic that 70 to 75 percent electorate will exercise their democratic right this time against only 40 percent recorded during the Lok Sabha polls,” Shah Faisal, the deputy commissioner of Bandipora, said. “People in Hurriyat cannot built water pumps and colleges. The government provided them for us. That is why we are voting. Why should we boycott the elections?“Reyaz Ahmed Dar, 31, a resident of Sonwari said. “These elections have nothing do with the Kashmir issue. They are for local governance. The Kashmir issue is something else. These elections are for bijli, sadak and pani, which is why even the separatist leadership did not issue a boycott call,” Abdul Majid Mir, 47, a businessmen based in Bandipora, said.