In crowded J&K poll fray, one message: Election stigma over

“I am 90 years old and have watched elections in Jammu and Kashmir since 1957 but for the first time I can’t predict even one result,” said an observer of the political scene in Srinagar. “This election has become a most crowded arena.”Election 2024 in J&K, taking place after a gap of 10 years, has in the words of a political wag, “ended the stigma about elections” that existed in the troubled erstwhile state. If nothing else, people feel they will be able to approach their MLAs with their problems instead of having to deal with the less responsive officials.
Go to Sopore town in North Kashmir which used to be the centre of poll boycotts at one time with only 7-8 people voting in any election. Today, you see party flags and posters everywhere and 20 candidates in the fray. In nearby Handwara, People’s Conference chief Sajad Lone, once seen as a potential CM the BJP might back, is grappling with how to manage a 500-vehicle roadshow through the narrow streets of his…