The turnout in the second phase of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections has been far from rosy despite claims to the contrary by top government functionaries, prompting former chief minister Omar Abdullah to claim that the alleged propaganda linking elections to normality was to blame for the modest turnout.

The former chief minister was of the opinion that the visit of foreign diplomats to Kashmir to witness the elections on the government’s invite also played spoilsport. Omar had on Wednesday hit out at the Centre for sending foreign diplomats to witness the elections and said it was done to showcase “normality” before the world.

Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday clocked a turnout of 57 per cent in the second phase of polling on Wednesday, which though decent by local standards was lower than the 2014 Assembly elections when it stood at more than 60 per cent. The turnout was 59 per cent in the first phase of the Assembly elections.

What makes the voter footfall more surprising is that there were no calls for boycott this time, unlike in 2014 when separatists had urged people not to vote.

Srinagar district on Wednesday lived up to its reputation as the “boycott capital” of Jammu and Kashmir, although the turnout improved a little from 27.86 per cent in 2014 to around 30 per cent this time.

Officials said five Srinagar constituencies witnessed a relatively higher turnout while the three others saw a fall when compared to 2014.

The figures provided by the election commission show that 20 of the 26 Assembly segments in the six districts of Srinagar, Ganderbal and Budgam (in Kashmir) and Rajouri, Poonch and Reasi (in Jammu) have witnessed lower turnout compared to the 2014 polls.

The Habba Kadal constituency in Srinagar clocked the lowest turnout of 18.39 per cent compared to 21.31 per cent registered 10 years ago.

Chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar had said on Wednesday that the ongoing Assembly poll process was “history in the making” and that its echoes would be heard for generations to come.

Omar on Thursday claimed that the low turnout was a result of government “propaganda” linking voting to normality.

“The government of India has been doing the propaganda that turnout is proof that people here are happy, coming out in large numbers after August 5 (2019, when Article 370 was scrapped). It is the Centre’s fault (that the turnout is lower). There are a lot of areas where there was more voting in 2014. The central government has to explain the reasons behind the fall,” he told reporters.

The government had projected the high turnout in this year’s Lok Sabha polls as proof of normality, although the parties opposing the 2019 changes won all three Valley seats.

Former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti said no “secular” government can be formed in Jammu and Kashmir without the support of her party. She offered her backing to the formation of a secular government to keep the BJP out of power, suggesting support to INDIA partners Congress and NC.