How involved was this election?

The Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections are attracting a lot of attention not only because the people of Jammu and Kashmir got a chance to exercise their right to exercise their right after ten years, but also because this was the first election in the State after the repeal of Article 370 and the re-enactment of laws. the State became two Union Territories.

There was uncertainty about how the people of Jammu and Kashmir would perceive the election. But the voter statistics revealed that this election was one of the most participated in the history of elections in the State. All three stages of the election saw good participation among voters – the third and last stage had a record 70.2% of voters and the average voter turnout for all three stages at 64.4% with equal participation between men and women in the Government (Table 1). There have been only a few elections in the State in the past that have seen turnout as high as 64% (Table 2).

Voters are not only voting in large numbers, but CSDS-Lokniti survey findings indicate, they are also participating in various campaign-related activities in large numbers. More than two-quarters of voters (26%) indicated participation in election campaigns, while one in ten (9%) indicated participation in door-to-door campaigns. One in ten voters also participated in campaign activity using social media (Table 3).

It is important to note that voters did not only show interest in the elections, but political parties also worked hard to reach voters using different campaigning methods. The CSDS-Lokniti survey findings show that, the BJP was ahead of other parties in reaching voters using digital campaigning methods, while the National Conference (NC) was ahead of other parties in reaching voters traditionally. campaign method.

About a quarter of voters said they were contacted by BJP leaders and workers using social media and three in ten said they were contacted by the BJP through traditional campaign methods. About one in five voters are contacted by NC through social media and about three in ten voters say they are contacted by NC through traditional campaigns. Congress was slightly behind BJP and NC in reaching voters on both platforms. The People Democratic Party also worked hard to reach voters using different campaign platforms, but the results indicate that they were unable to mobilize voters in their favor (Table 4). The findings also suggested that both the national parties, Congress and BJP, actively campaigned in the Jammu region, but had little presence in the Kashmir valley.

All these evidences clearly show – the 2024 Assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir was one of the most participated elections in the ancient history of the country.

The author is professor and director, Lokniti-CSDS