Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah alleged that his party workers have been detained for the last two days and questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah over the claims of normalcy in the Union Territory.
Polling for the Srinagar Parliamentary constituency is currently underway. This is the first election in the Union Territory after Article 370 was abrogated.
After casting his vote alongside the party Vice-President Omar Abdullah, the J&K National Conference President told reporters, “…It is sad that they say that there is no violence and everything is smooth but I want to say that the workers of our party have been locked up for 2 days. On one side, they are saying that elections are taking place in a free environment”.
“I want to ask Union Home Minister and PM Modi: Why have our workers been locked? Are they scared that they will lose? They will lose…,” he added.
On being asked about polling agents getting harassed, Omar Abdullah told ANI, “We have even written their names. Others have only said that their workers are being harassed but we gave the names of our 8 our workers. This is an attempt from the administration to vitiate the poll process and it is condemnable…”
“We have been waiting for this day for a long time. We were expecting that along with parliament elections, Assembly elections would also take place. I want to appeal to the people of Srinagar, Budgam, Shopian to come out and cast their votes…,” Omar added.
Both the Congress and BJP have not fielded their candidates for the seat.
J-K has been under central rule since the fall of the PDP-BJP government in June 2018, with the last assembly polls held in 2014.
The voting in Jammu and Kashmir is being held in five phases.
In the 2019 elections, the BJP won three seats, while the National Conference won the remaining three.
The PDP and NC, despite being allies in the opposition alliance INDIA bloc, have decided to go solo in the Lok Sabha elections in Jammu and Kashmir.
The 2024 Lok Sabha elections are being held in seven phases running from April 19 to June 1.
The counting of votes and results will be declared on June 4.
