How participatory was this election?
The Jammu and Kashmir Assembly election drew so much attention not only because the people of Jammu and Kashmir were getting a chance to exercise their franchise after a decade, but also because this was the first election in the State after abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcation of the State into two Union Territories. There was some uncertainty about how people of Jammu and Kashmir would perceive this election. But figures of turnout indicated this election was one of the most participatory in the history of elections in the State. All the three phases of election witnessed a decent participation amongst the voters – the third and the last phase witnessing a record 70.2% turnout with the average turnout of all three phases at 64.4% with similar participation amongst men and women in the State (Table 1). There have been only few elections in the State in the past which witnessed turnout as high as 64% (Table 2). The voters not only voted in large numbers, but findings of the CSDS-Lokniti survey indicates, they …