Jammu and Kashmir has seen unprecedented high voter turnout in the five phased Assembly elections giving way to the public discourse with a view to regard the same as a change of heart on the part of the political milieu of the State.
Numerous factors have played their part in the high voter turnout in J&K, more specifically the Kashmir province. A lot is to be attributed to the anti incumbency and the inefficiency of the State Government in the calamitous floods that hit the region in September this year. However the biggest underlying factor seems to the prominent foray of BJP stemming from its success in the General Elections. The BJP has never been able to gain a foot-hold ever since it has run for elections in the State but, the changing landscape in the country has materialized in the form of palpable fillip in J&K for the BJP.
The BJP has been criticized for polarizing the electorate in the state on communal lines to secure the votes in the Hindu majority areas of Jammu province which constitutes of half of the seats in the 87 seat Assembly. Hindutva has been the poll plank for BJP since its inception, but it has gone under a makeover of sorts to shift its emphasis to development and progress to digress the voters from its Pro-Hindutva image. This agenda has been pervasively seen in the run up to the elections in J&K with many of the national leaders and the Prime Minister actively taking part in the poll campaigning.
However, despite its best efforts to divert the attention of the electorate from envisaging the BJP in the state as a communal based party, the fine-print was more conspicuous by its absence.
In scenes of unprecedented voter turnout in the Valley, it was deemed to be the vote for democracy and need for good governance. With due deference to that view, it cannot be denied that this trend of high voter turnout can be a counter measure undertaken by the people, in of communal forces taking over the helm of affairs of the State. In the most ironic terms, it was the use of the exercise of power of suffrage exercised by the people of the state to put forth their mandate. Speculation that it maybe, only the results on 23rd December will reveal the veracity of these allusions.
apprehension
With the final ballot cast on the 20th, the fate of the State and its people will be sealed and what the moot point will remain is as to "who will form the Governement?" If it happens to be BJP then all the abovesaid allusions shall be discarded and the verdict shall be accepted as the mandate for BJP of the people, for the people and by the people. On the contrary, if the opposite happens, the contention of reverse polarisation in wake of polarising tactics cannot be ruled out.
The BJP has been criticized for polarizing the electorate in the state on communal lines to secure the votes in the Hindu majority areas of Jammu province which constitutes of half of the seats in the 87 seat Assembly. Hindutva has been the poll plank for BJP since its inception, but it has gone under a makeover of sorts to shift its emphasis to development and progress to digress the voters from its Pro-Hindutva image. This agenda has been pervasively seen in the run up to the elections in J&K with many of the national leaders and the Prime Minister actively taking part in the poll campaigning.
However, despite its best efforts to divert the attention of the electorate from envisaging the BJP in the state as a communal based party, the fine-print was more conspicuous by its absence.
In scenes of unprecedented voter turnout in the Valley, it was deemed to be the vote for democracy and need for good governance. With due deference to that view, it cannot be denied that this trend of high voter turnout can be a counter measure undertaken by the people, in of communal forces taking over the helm of affairs of the State. In the most ironic terms, it was the use of the exercise of power of suffrage exercised by the people of the state to put forth their mandate. Speculation that it maybe, only the results on 23rd December will reveal the veracity of these allusions.
apprehension
With the final ballot cast on the 20th, the fate of the State and its people will be sealed and what the moot point will remain is as to "who will form the Governement?" If it happens to be BJP then all the abovesaid allusions shall be discarded and the verdict shall be accepted as the mandate for BJP of the people, for the people and by the people. On the contrary, if the opposite happens, the contention of reverse polarisation in wake of polarising tactics cannot be ruled out.
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