J&K: Women voters concerned about rising electricity bill amounts

Srinagar: The election campaign of all the major political parties in Jammu and Kashmir revolved around the revocation and restoration of the erstwhile state's special status but women voters are more worried about the rising electricity bill amounts.

An elderly woman, waiting for her turn to vote at a polling station in the heart of Srinagar city on Wednesday told a visiting foreign diplomat that she is concerned about the erratic electricity supply and the rising bill amounts.

"The electricity supply has been destroyed and tariff meters have been installed. Now they say water consumption will also be metered," the woman in her late 60s told the US Deputy Chief of Mission in Delhi, Jorgan K Andrews.

While the woman refused to identify herself, she said she spoke her heart out hoping that the diplomat's intervention will bring some relief to poor people from the rising electricity bill amounts.

Unaware that foreign diplomats were invited here only to witness the Assembly poll process, the woman said she is hopeful that the "Angrez" will take up the matter with the central government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The second phase of polling for the three-phased Jammu and Kashmir Assembly election is being conducted on Wednesday.

A significant number of women voters queued up before the polling stations here. They were more concerned about basic amenities like electricity, water and foodgrains through the public distribution system.

"The monthly electricity bill has risen from Rs 1,400 last year to Rs 2,750 this year. We want to vote for a government that will roll it back," Haseena Bano, a resident of the uptown Bazullah area, said.

While the electricity tariffs have remained unchanged for several years in Jammu and Kashmir, the Power Development Corporation has revised the load agreements and that has nearly doubled the monthly bills of the consumers who are paying at a flat rate.

The concerns expressed by the voters are in sharp contrast to the campaigns run by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress, National Conference (NC) and People's Democratic Party (PDP).

The star campaigners for the BJP, including Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, have maintained that there is no way Article 370 of the Constitution can be restored. They have also warned people that if the NC-Congress alliance comes to power in Jammu and Kashmir, terrorism would return to the Union Territory.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has made several populist promises during his party's poll campaign but his focus was on restoration of statehood in Jammu and Kashmir.

The NC and the PDP have also laid stress on restoration of Jammu and Kashmir's special status as the two regional parties have said they do not want to cede space to communal forces.

In August 2019, the BJP-led Centre abrogated the provisions of Article 370, which bestowed special rights on Jammu and Kashmir, and bifurcated the erstwhile state into Union territories.