Key Takeaways
- The Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections are a crucial step towards strengthening democracy in the region.
- PM Modi has urged young and first-time voters to exercise their franchise in the elections.
- The Centre’s decision to abrogate Article 370 has reorganised the state into Union Territories.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday called upon voters, especially “young and first-time voters,” to exercise their franchise as the first phase of assembly elections has begun in Jammu and Kashmir.
On the social media post of X, PM Narendra Modi wrote, “As the first phase of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections begins, I urge all those in constituencies going to the polls today to vote in large numbers and strengthen the festival of democracy. I particularly call upon young and first-time voters to exercise their franchise.”
Voting in the first phase of the three-phase election in Jammu and Kashmir began on Wednesday under stringent security measures. The voting is taking place in twenty-four Assembly constituencies, spread across seven districts for the first time in 10 years.
This is also the first Assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir after the Centre abrogated Article 370 of the Constitution in 2019, stripping the then state’s special status and reorganising it into Union Territories.
The key candidates contesting in this phase include Engineer Rashid’s Kashmir Awami Ittehad Party, which struck an alliance with Jamaat-e-Islami, and Sajjad Lone’s People’s Conference, which is also in the fray. Some separatist outfits are contesting as independents in many seats.
