Power to vote game-changer in democracy: Mufti Sayeed

The power to vote is the real game-changer in a democratic set-up, PDP patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed Thursday said in Ganderbal, near here.

Addressing a party meeting in Ganderbal assembly constituency in the state, Sayeed said: "People's power of vote is the game-changer in a democratic set-up."

"A new course for Jammu and Kashmir can only be decided by its people, using their voting right. Let me make it clear that the power to change the destiny of the state lies with the people and not elsewhere," he said.

Seeking support for Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Qazi Muhammad Afzal for the Ganderbal seat, Sayeed said: "It was the decisive vote by the Ganderbal voters in the 2002 assembly polls that paved the way for the formation of the PDP-led coalition government for three years."

He said the central government shall have to pursue an agenda which would be "politically-inclusive and developmentally-intensive" and shall have to take measures to address both the internal and external dimensions of the Kashmir issue taking on board all the stakeholders, including the separatists.

He said that while PDP would continue to act as a facilitator for resolving the Kashmir issue and the issues confronting the state, the party would carry forward its agenda of political resolution, economic development, good governance, and justice, the foundation for which had been laid in 2002.

Ganderbal goes to vote Nov 25 in the first round of the five-phased state assembly elections.