Srinagar: President Droupadi Murmu today hailed the voters of Kashmir for participating in the recently held Lok Sabha elections in record numbers thus giving a befitting reply to the enemies of India.
Addressing the joint sitting of the Houses following the constitution of the 18th Lok Sabha, the President said that voting records of several decades have been broken in Kashmir Valley.
She said that in the past few decades, we had witnessed very low polling amidst bandhs and hartals in Kashmir Valley and enemies of India were using this as a propaganda tool at international forums to further their agenda.
“A very heartening aspect of this election emerged from Jammu and Kashmir. The Kashmir Valley broke all records of voter turnout of many decades. In the last four decades, we had witnessed low voter turnout amidst shutdowns and strikes in Kashmir.
“Enemies of India continued to spread false propaganda at global fora, projecting it as the opinion of Jammu and Kashmir. But this time, the Kashmir Valley has given a befitting reply to every such element within the country and outside,” the President said.
According to the Election Commission, the three seats in the Kashmir Valley — Srinagar (38.49 percent), Baramulla (59.1 percent) and Anantnag-Rajouri (53 percent) — recorded the highest voter turnout “in many decades” in the recent Lok Sabha elections.
