High voter turnout in Srinagar message to New Delhi against 2019 decision: Mufti

Kulgam, May 14: Former chief minister and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) President Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday said that people turned out in huge numbers to vote in the Srinagar Parliamentary Constituency to send a message to New Delhi against the decision of August 2019.
She made these remarks while addressing the media persons in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district. Mufti earlier addressed a rally in Qazigund, and later in Kilam and Munad in Kulgam.
Mehbooba said the polling in the Srinagar Parliamentary Constituency was significant because people have been feeling suffocated for the past five years. “People want to convey to Delhi that the decisions made in 2019, and subsequent decisions regarding the land of J&K, state subjects, and jobs, are unacceptable to Kashmiri people, as well as to the people of Rajouri, Poonch and Jammu,” she said.
She added, “I believe that wherever there were long queues outside polling stations, indicating support for the PDP, the polling process slowed down. I hope that the people of Rajouri, Poonch, Anantnag, Kulgam, and Wachi (Zainapora) become aware that if they have to wait in line for 10 hours, they should wait and not leave until they vote.”
Mufti likened the situation in the Srinagar seat to suffocation, where people want to elect a candidate who will represent their grievances to the nation. Similarly, in the Anantnag-Rajouri seat, I hope the people will vote in numbers to elect the right candidate who will become the voice of the people.
The PDP chief said that over the past five years, there were three National Conference (NC) Members of Parliament including the party’s president Farooq Abdullah, who has served as chief minister four times and is a senior leader at the national level. “But tell me, when did he (Farooq) speak up? The other Member of Parliament, Hussain Masoodi, a retired justice well-versed in the law, what has he done? Did he ever visit here? Now, the people in the Srinagar seat voted for the PDP,” she claimed.
Mufti alleged that the NC nominated a candidate not based on the party name but on a particular community.