Bucking the trend of the last few years, voters queued up outside polling stations starting early in the day.

Shopian and Pulwama have been a hotbed for militancy in the past and dozens of locals and foreign terrorists have been killed in encounters over the last two decades, which also resulted in polling always being subdued.

This time around, however, people were sitting in groups outside polling stations after casting their votes and discussing politics sans fear.

“I am casting my vote for the first time in my life despite having lived for 40 years,” Mohammad Ashraf, who voted at a school in Sambora, said. After two hours of polling, 71 votes were polled with several others waiting patiently in queues. “We want our representatives to be at the helm of affairs, so the problems which we are facing will be over,” Ashraf added.

Pulwama and Shopian are the strongholds of the Peoples Democratic Party, which is in contest against the National Conference and the Apni Party.

“For the first time, people are voting without any fear,” voter Naseer Ahmad. who earns livelihood by extracting sand from river Jhelum, said.

Pulwama and Shopian districts recorded around 45% polling by the end of day. The number has stood at a dismal 2.14% and 2.88% in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls amid multiple instances of stone pelting and protests.

In stark contrast, a festive mood had replaced the fear. “You could not stand near the polling booth in previous elections due to fear. Now the situation is relaxed and peaceful, which is definitely good omen for our village and the entire district which was known for encounters and protests,” a voter from Samboora, a village home to 1,100 households, said.

Women voters were as enthusiastic as their male counterparts, with Jwahara, a local, saying, “We have finally realised that ballots are more powerful than anything which will again empower us.”

Ghulam Mohammad Tantray, 55, said he was voting for the first time in his life. “I have never voted in my life. Today I am a father of three children and decided to vote as this way we can express our feelings,” he said.

At the neighbouring Pinglena village, workers of political parties were ferrying voters in vehicles. Even the shops outside the polling station were open as people sat in groups to watch the process unfold.

“We think our vote will end our hardships, especially after 2019 everything is going against us,” Altaf Ahmad, who is pursuing BTech, said.

At Pulwama’s Washbough, voters were upbeat. “Since morning, voters are coming out in large numbers. This is different from the past,” said Shabir Ahmad, a grocery store owner who runs his business metres away from the polling station, where 400 votes out of 1,200 registered votes were polled till mid-day. “I will cast my vote this evening. This is the first time in decades I am witnessing a relaxed atmosphere in Pulwama town,” Ahmad said.

At Keegam, Shopian, 250 of the 1,133 votes had been polled in the first two hours. “We used to have guns in action in the past, not now. We want our government so our representatives will end our miseries,” Lateef Ahmad Kaloo, a former government employee sitting outside the polling station, said.