Despite continuous ceasefire violations from across the border and devastating floods in the recent past, residents of Jammu and Kashmir thronged a voter awareness camp with great enthusiasm to express their faith in democracy.
The people of Hiranagar in Kathua District participated in the camp in great numbers to be aware of the electoral process of the coming assembly elections in the state.
The camp was organised at a government school in the town.
Participants of the camp said it is important to strengthen democracy in Kashmir.
"Pakistan should learn from us how strong and effective the base of democracy is in India. The system is working well here. There is hardly any democracy in Pakistan," said border resident, Bharat Bhushan.
The assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir will be held between November 21 and December 20.
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To ensure a larger participation in assembly election in border areas, the District Election Officer, Kathua, Shaheed Iqbal organised the camp under the Systematic Voters' Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) at Marheen village to make people aware of the need to exercise their franchise.
"We launched an awareness campaign for the upcoming elections. We invited people from across the state. We saw great enthusiasm among people about the polls, especially the border people, who experienced regular hazards of ceasefire violations by Pakistan. We urged them to ensure maximum participation in the polls so that this district tops in terms of polling percentage in the state," Iqbal said.
A large number of local people, self-help group women, schoolteachers and student participated in the programme.
Iqbal added that Kathua district has above 10% literacy rate as compared to the entire state, therefore, the voting percentage should be higher than other districts.