An eerie silence descends on the streets of militancy-infested Pulwama district. People mill around but are guarded in their response. They want to talk about anything but elections.
Pulwama, known as the “Anand (delight) of Kashmir” for its congenial climate, innumerable springs and water falls, hogged the headlines when a suicide bomber rammed his car into a CRPF convoy on February 14, killing 40 paramilitary forces.
Since then the campaign for 2019 Lok Sabha polls has revolved around Pulwama and terrorism with parties making nationalism a key poll issue.
On Monday, Pulwama — a part of the Anantnag Lok Sabha seat — will go to polls and all eyes will be on how the ground zero responds. Gulzar Wani, a grocery store owner, who virtually turned agitated when asked about the prospects of Monday’s voting, says “I don’t think that there will be any voting in this area. The machines may return untouched,” he said.
Senior police officials believe that the voting may not cross the double-digit mark.
The district has hardly seen any election campaigning by political parties.
The National Conference and the Congress confined their political activities to party offices.
The PDP, which has a strong base in south Kashmir, is almost missing. Party candidate Mehbooba Mufti has preferred to stay away from canvassing.