There is an air of festivity in the valley after ten long years where, in the words of a Kashmiri youth, “our state had become a prison camp”. Banners have been strung up along the main streets of important cities and candidates have been freely criticising each other’s parties, ideologies or the lack thereof, and more interestingly in typical Kashmiri style, been casting wild allegations against their opponents. But as one white-haired and obviously seasoned bystander remarked in downtown Srinagar, “This is the success of jamhooriyat (democracy). We are finally being able to inhale fresh air.”

Even the most cynical are basking in this freedom, though one youth in Traal burst out, “We have been treated as a far-flung outpost by the centre. Let us see how long this will last.”

There is little doubt that most Kashmiris who cast their vote on Thursday knew only too well that the battle lines this time around have been drawn between the National Conference-Congress alliance and the BJP along with its many satellite parties, many of whom are fighting these elections by putting up independent candidates.

No one has been able to beat the bravado shown by Engineer Rashid who was recently given interim bail by a sessions court in Delhi so he could campaign in these elections. “I will be king, not kingmaker,” he has claimed in an interview going on to state that there was a political vacuum in the valley which he wanted his party candidates to win so that he could travel to Delhi to “discuss political issues with Modi”.

Ifra Jan, the attractive spokesperson of the NC, wasted no time in cutting Rashid to size. “He won from the Baramulla constituency in the Lok Sabha elections because his sons went around begging the public that if they did not vote for him, he would be hanged in Tihar jail as happened with Afzal Guru.”

Kashmiris are known to be emotional and they were swayed by this sentiment. But Rashid’s granting of bail this time around raises several questions. There are hundreds of other Kashmiri youth detained under UAPA; how come none of the others were granted bail, Jan asks.

She also dismisses the allegation that the NC is a party of dynasts. “There is one Abdullah fighting this election whereas in the case of Engineer Rashid, both his sons and his brother are in the electoral fray. So why is our party being singled out?” she wants to know.

Her other question, which Iltija and her mother Mehbooba Mufti have also raised repeatedly, is that all the candidates that have been nominated by Engineer Rashid as also by the Jamaat-e-Islami (J&K) are fighting the elections as independent candidates, which means none of them are subject to the anti-defection law and nor will any party whip apply to them.

This means these candidates are free to join up with whichever party they want to and in case of a hung Assembly, there is every likelihood that they could end up supporting the BJP, claims Irfa Jan.

The presence of a large number of Jamaati candidates has also raised eyebrows amongst other mainstream candidates. Following the turmoil thrown up post the 1987 elections, several Jamaati leaders had taken up arms while others had crossed over to Pakistan. Many leaders went underground while post 2014, many others were jailed or put under house arrest. It is an open secret that the centre has been holding talks with the Jamaatis right through 2023, though the details of these talks have not been made public.

Commenting on this sudden turnaround in their decision to contest, many public citizens in the state have asked, “Jo ab tak haram tha, woh halal kaise ho gaya?”

But the post-Independence history of the valley is littered with such turnarounds and as one Jamaati candidate explained, “If the PDP could join hands with the BJP, why cannot we talk to the Centre? We are a socio-religious organisation and have been working with the people for the last three decades.”

The high turnout in the first phase of elections is proof that the present elections are all about participation and not of boycott as has happened in the past. But at the same time the high percentage of independents indicates that for the first time, individual candidates have become more important than parties. This will create its own dilemma but that is something to be decided once the post-election scenario starts unfolding.

The BJP and its allies may claim that Article 370 has been done and dusted with, but for the public at large this remains an extremely emotive issue. The majority of Kashmiris want it to be brought back and believe that its removal is akin to nothing less than the “destruction of their unique identity”. A cross-section of the public spoken to were unanimous in wanting it back and said this highly diluted Article 370 was in no way responsible for pushing the state on the path of militancy; rather it was the corrupt policies of the centre which saw an upsurge of killings and gave a pretext to the Pakistanis to press the pedal on terrorism.

Reflecting this sentiment, Omar Abdullah explained that the government wants to introduce “one election, one vote”, then why are they following different standards? “Why have they not withdrawn the special status granted under the Sixth Schedule to Northeastern states which is what the Ladakhi population has been demanding ever since they were given UT status?”

Even within J&K, there is a sense of discrimination with land laws being much stronger in Ladakh than in J&K.

The defeat in Baramulla is seeing a chastened Omar Abdullah willing to admit that he finds nothing amiss in “begging for votes” because in the ultimate analysis, “in every election, it is the people who are the masters. It is their vote that will decide whether we win or lose”.

The three primary issues that are dominating the valley remain the lack of jobs, poor quality of drinking water especially in the villages and the increasing use of drugs among the youth. A prominent PDP candidate highlighted that there is a clear connection between increasing drug use and unemployment.

No report on the elections can be complete without mention of the town of Pulwama which has put the horrible massacre of BSF troops behind them and has emerged as a centre of education and horticulture. In Traal, the hometown of Afzal Guru, his presence continues to loom large, though the public do not want to air their feelings regarding his death in 2013 except that for them he is a martyr.

The result of this election seems up in the air. The Congress does not seem to have too much of a presence in the valley; even in Jammu their giving away three Hindu-dominated seats to their NC partners has demoralised the cadre who are not coming forward to actively campaign for the other seats.

Omar Abdullah may admonish them as “late starters” but their absence in such a significant election raises a question about their seriousness and commitment to the aggrieved public in these UTs.

Rashme Sehgal is an author and an independent journalist