After a long period of fear, threats and dormancy, people of Jammu and Kashmir have demonstrated in unambiguous terms that they cherished the ideals of Indian democracy and the globally famous election process of the country. The participation of the people in the elections to the District Development Councils , the first of its kind in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir , has been splendid on more than one counts. Not only the people came out of their homes to be among the first ones to cast votes but while queuing up to reach to the ballot box in respective polling stations, impeccable and outstanding discipline was observed. The entire exercise spread over eight phases culminated without any violence, mess or any confusion though unlike Panchayati and Urban Local Bodies elections , there were many candidates contesting for the same seat or in other words, it was a hotly contested election which is another beauty of the vibrant Indian election process. The credit for that, however, definitely goes to the people. We cannot stop at that only and must record with satisfaction the overall percentage of votes polled which stood at over 51% during these days of winter season, during the scare of COVID-19 pandemic and during the time when days are shorter and preferences for lot of individual domestic commitments are on the average, many.
Results of 278 seats are out and counting on two seats namely Drugmulla in Kupwara and Hajin -A in Bandipora has been stopped as two candidates are reported to be Pakistani nationals . How they managed to file wrong information and how the same was not verified till the stage of counting of the votes polled by them must be thoroughly probed. However, that apart, the BJP has emerged as the single largest party, winning 75 seats as also securing largest vote share in the Union Territory. It has made its presence felt for the first time in Kashmir valley by winning 3 seats which has its own political significance .The Gupkar Alliance – a combination of 7 parties – has won 110 seats, Congress Party has won 26 seats , Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party has bagged 12 seats while PDF and NPP notching 2 each and the BSP one. Independent candidates winning 50 seats cannot be overlooked both by the number of seats won by them and their expected role in the post election process in contributing very positively towards issues concerning the District Development Councils.
Democracy , in short , has emerged triumphant and those few who just for the sake of opposition, were casting aspersions on the levels of fairness and free and open atmosphere of the election process have been adequately and squarely proved wrong by the outcome of the elections and as such by the matured electorate. We do not evince any interest in who won or who lost but only how much solidly democracy prevailed , how people’s mandate got conveyed , how trust in the system , in the constitutional process emerged victorious and how only the aspirations and considerations for development and progress prevailed over political considerations and repetitive political rhetoric to which people , by and large, accorded no importance.
The developments in Kashmir valley in particular, have been pointing towards yearning for peace and development as people are now fed up and sick of continued spate of violence, hartals, uncertainties and fear psychosis which reveals the maximum participation of men and women voters in these elections. Like in Jammu, people in Kashmir region too showed keen interest in these elections. Perceiving a changed directions of the wind, almost all political parties joined in the election process and campaigned for their candidates, even a few claim that lot many independent candidates had their support and blessings. No qualms about that so long as democratic process and the leverage and elasticity therein are concerned.
Cannot a cue, a signal rather an indication be taken from the manner in which enthusiastically people participated in these elections that the Assembly elections could be held in a hassles free manner in the near future for which preparations can be made since grass root democratic process has apparently taken firm roots in Jammu and Kashmir . However, that being not immediately imminent, now the elected representatives to the District development Councils should burn midnight oil in seeing how best their districts developed. They must not give any room to any sort of complacency as the people who chose them with great expectations were there to watch their performance. All the Political Parties whose candidates won, must strive for development and progress and not misuse the Councils for petty political ends. They should feel the pulse of the people as they are least interested, now, in those issues as they did not fulfil their needs of development of their areas. Independent candidates too had to focus on development as ostensibly promised by them to the people while campaigning. Agreed, they have an important role of “King Makers” to play looking to the nature of the verdict but their preference should be to wholeheartedly devoted to the process of development. That only will surely instil more confidence and trust of the system in the people.
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