Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Mehbooba Mufti alleges PDP workers detained on polling day, holds protest; police lathi charge crowd

Bijbehara, J&K: PDP President Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday staged a protest outside a police station in Jammu and Kashmir's Anantnag district, where polling is underway in the sixth phase of Lok Sabha elections, against alleged detention of her party workers and polling agents.

She also claimed that outgoing calls on her mobile number have been suspended.

Police, however, said those detained are overground workers (OGWs) and the action was taken to ensure smooth conduct of elections.

Mehbooba, who is among 20 candidates in the fray from the Anantnag-Rajouri constituency, staged a sit-in outside Bijbehara police station on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway.

The protesters raised slogans against the Jammu and Kashmir administration and demanded that those detained be immediately released.

"Our PDP polling agents are being targeted and arrested. We are asking the reason, but they are not saying anything. If they are so afraid of me going to the Parliament, then the lieutenant governor should tell me not to fight elections," Mehbooba told reporters.

She said this kind of 'rigging' was witnessed in 1987 which many believe led to the eruption of militancy in Kashmir.

Police said only a few people with a 'tainted' past record and who can pose a threat to law and order on polling day have been detained.

"Those who have been detained are overground workers and have been taken into preventive custody to ensure peaceful polling," a police official said.

A protester, Yasmeen, said her husband is among those detained.

"I am very worried since last night. My husband does not engage in any illegal activity and yet he has been detained."

"We are not even being allowed to meet him. Today is the voting day and everyone has the right to vote. Why have they been detained and prevented from voting? The law should be the same for everyone," she said.

Police and civil officers rushed to the scene and unsuccessfully tried to persuade the People's Democratic Party (PDP) chief for over an hour to lift the blockade, officials said.

Police personnel resorted to mild lathicharge to disperse the swelling crowds of onlookers, they said.

Media people covering the protest claimed that some of them were injured after being hit by lathis.

Mehbooba left the protest site briefly to cast her vote.

Media persons were not allowed inside the polling booth and were stopped by security personnel 100 metres from the booth.

Mehbooba is still at the protest site, the officials said.

Additional forces have been called to keep the situation under control, the officials said.

On Friday, Mehbooba had written to the Election Commission claiming that PDP workers and polling agents were detained by police.

"Many of our PDP polling agents & workers are being detained just before voting. When the families went to the police stations they are being told that it's being done at the behest of SSP Anantnag & DIG South Kashmir. We've written to @ECISVEEP hoping for their timely intervention," the PDP chief had said in a post on X.

Earlier on Saturday, Mehbooba told PTI that outgoing calls on her mobile number have been suspended without any explanation.

"I am not able to make any calls since morning. There is no explanation for this sudden suspension of services on the day of polling in the Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency," nshe said.

The PDP also flagged the issue in a post on X.

"Just ahead of the polls, Ms. Mehbooba Mufti's @MehboobaMufti cellular phone service has been abruptly snapped. Yesterday evening and in the early hours today, scores of PDP workers and polling agents were detained across polling belt," the party said.