Srinagar: An online poll conducted by Pakistani newspaper “Dawn” has revealed that more than 52 per cent believe that Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir are free and fair.
Of the nearly 8,000 respondents to the online poll, 52.54 per cent said “yes” to the question whether the elections in “Indian-held Kashmir are largely free and fair?”
The remaining respondents were of the opinion that the ongoing assembly elections in the state are not free and fair.
The rare survey comes in the wake of high voter turnout in the first phase of elections in the state on November 25, which saw more than 72 per cent of the electorate exercise their right to vote as the polling day passed off by and large peacefully.
Since the eruption of militancy in the state, the Pakistan media by and large had been dubbing the elections held in Jammu and Kashmir as not free and fair.
The low voter turnout in the past elections was used as a justification for such claims. PTI
