Srinagar, April 29 -- Since the early nineties when separatists began championing boycott of the elections, the trend has experienced diminishing returns: It is now only in urban areas where a significant section of population stick to boycotting the exercise, while in countryside the people generally go out and vote.

Now, the question arises whether people in cities and towns will vote in large numbers in the absence of a public boycott call. Many of them may choose to still boycott. And a range of emotions or absence of them may lead them to act in this way. For example, a substantial section of people still do believe that casting a vote is a betrayal of Kashmir cause, irrespective of the independent merit of this thinking.

Overall, ...