Srinagar: Normal life was affected in poll-bound areas in Kashmir Valley Wednesday due to a strike called by separatists against the urban local bodies elections in the state.
Voting for the second of the four-phased elections was underway in the Valley. It began at 6 am and ended at 4 pm.
Shops, fuel stations and other business establishments were shut in the poll-bound areas of the Valley, officials said, adding some other areas of the city also observed a spontaneous shutdown as shops remained closed.
Authorities had reduced the mobile internet speeds across the Valley as a precautionary measure, they said.
The officials said public transport was off roads in the poll-bound areas but plying normally in the rest of the Valley.
The government too had declared a holiday in the poll-bound areas.
The separatists – under the banner of Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) – Tuesday asked people in the region to observe strike.
“In the poll-bound areas in the second-phase of the elections, people will show their complete disconnect and dismissal by staying away and boycotting this drama,” a statement by Joint Resistance Leadership, comprising Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Mohammad Yasin Malik, said.
Meanwhile, JRL has said that today people have again rejected and dismissed the elections through a boycott and protest shut down against it.
In a statement issued today, JRL said that “with the prior announcement of mayor of Srinagar city by the state authority, manipulation of election timing to 6 am, further military deployments across the valley, continuous arrest of pro-freedom activists and youth, internet bans, the farce of this election gets more and more exposed with each passing phase.”
However, the leadership didn’t comment on massive participation in Jammu and Ladakh regions.
