“I bring with me the message of positivity, peace and hope,” says PDP chief’s daughter Iltija
Poonch (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], May 15 (ANI): Iltija Mufti, daughter of PDP Chief Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday held a roadshow in the Mandi hilly area of Poonch in Jammu and Kashmir and said that she has come here with a message of positivity, peace, and hope.
Asserting that she has come here to seek votes for education, universities, hospitals and degree colleges, Iltija Mufti said, “We have come here with a message of peace because other parties are trying to spread hate and trying to pit one community against the other. I have come here with a message of positivity, peace, and hope…”
She also urged the people to cast their vote for Mehbooba Mufti and said, “Jammu & Kashmir has gone through a lot of pain, especially after 2019 and I have come here with a message that people should cast their vote to Mehbooba Mufti because she is the only one who can take everyone along.”
Expressing her views on Article 370, the daughter of PDP Chief claimed that the people of Jammu & Kashmir view the abrogation of the article as a betrayal that happened without their consent. “In my opinion, Article 370 was like a bridge that used to connect the people of Jammu and Kashmir with the rest of the country. You (BJP) think that by abrogating it, you have solved the issues but this is not the reality… You have broken the trust of the people and have hurt them. And the people of Jammu and Kashmir see the abrogation of Article 370 as a betrayal. This happened without their consent,” she said.
Notably, the Srinagar constituency, which saw the first general election after the abrogation of Article 370 in J-K on May 13, recorded 38.49 per cent voting, according to the Information and PR Department, Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. This is the highest voter turnout in several decades.
The voter turnout in Srinagar was 40.94 per cent in 1996, 30.06 per cent in 1998, 11.93 per cent in 1999, 18.57 per cent in 2004, 25.55 per cent in 2009, 25.86 per cent in 2014 and 14.43 per cent in 2019.
The erstwhile state has been under central rule since the fall of the PDP-BJP government in June 2018, with the last assembly polls held in 2014. The voting in Jammu and Kashmir is being held in five phases.
