“If, as happened in Baramulla during the 2024 Lok Sabha election , the youth in the Valley get triggered enough to jump into the wider fray, the end result would be difficult to predict, especially as the Jammu and Kashmir state’s post-August 5, 2019 political format remains substantially fragmented and foggy” Mohammad Sayeed Malik Finally, the uncertainty is over. The calendar for the assembly elections in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir is out. The last election to the erstwhile J&K legislative assembly was held in 2014 under vastly different circumstances.
Phased polling has been set after elaborate arranging security measures necessitated by the recent incidents of terror-linked violence in the relatively safer areas of Jammu region adjoining South Kashmir. The Election Commission’s formal announcement was preceded by a virtual midnight large-scale administrative and police reshuffle, giving rise to all sorts of apprehension in the minds of the principal contenders. Mainly because till not so long ago a really free, fair election in this part of the country was commonly believed to be an unaffordable luxury.
Now that the electoral timetable is finally out it offers an opportune moment to take a quick look at the pre-election scenario and visualise the probable prospects of the main contenders in the fray. Unless some unexpected development comes in the way, the voter turnout is expected to be as encouragingly good as it was in the Lok Sabha elections. As .