It may well have been an India-Pakistan cricket match. Everyone had their eyes glued fixed on TV sets, or their ears glued to radios. And passers-by stopped to ask “who is winning?” After the high turnout in the Assembly elections, the interest in the results was even higher.

And for a change, nobody was tuning in to the few Pakistani channels which are aired in the Valley, as none of them covered the Kashmir poll results.

“They did not even show the recent protests in which more than 50 people died,” said a man at a restaurant, as he watched the poll news on the local Kashir channel which had organised a live programme with a panel of experts.

At Kashmir’s largest Sunday market, vendors were tuned in to minute-by-minute announcements of the results, reflecting the larger mood in the Valley. The usual weekend crowd was missing, but nobody was complaining. Even those who did turn up were more interested in catching the poll gossip, rather than haggling over prices.

“We are keeping a vigil on the results, so that the Centre does not choose some candidate we don’t know. We are counting everything... we are not sheep that we will not care about what is happening to us,” said Aslam Shah, a vendor.

“Mehbooba wins,” shouted Riyaz Ahmad, leaning over the radio lying on a pile of his second-hand jackets. Though he did not vote when his constituency of Habbakadal went to polls, he wanted the PDP to win and form a government on its own.

... contd.