Srinagar: Hurriyat Conference, Democratic Freedom Party (DPF) and Communist Party of India- Marxist (CPM) on September 30 charged security forces with pressurising people to vote in Anantnag and Pulwam districts of the Valley, which go to the polls on October 1 in the third phase of Assembly elections along with Kathua and Udhampur in the Jammu region.

"In Anantnag and Pulwama, the security forces have started pressurising people into voting," a Hurriyat spokesman alleged adding that they were particularly targeting the youth and threatening them of dire consequences if they failed to vote.

"Coercion was intense in Shopian, Pulwama, Tral, Wachi and Aharbal areas of South Kashmir," he said.

The spokesman also expressed concern over the treatment meted out to the jailed Kashmiris and their "unwarranted" detention.

DFP president Shabir Ahmad Shah, who met with Spanish and Greek diplomats in Srinagar, alleged that the government was misleading foreign diplomats by taking them to far flung areas where the security forces assemble people by force to vote.

Shah said the ongoing elections did not merit observation as they were "as good as any elections in the past".

CPM state secretary Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami, who is contesting from Kulgam, also alleged that certain gun-totting "vested interests" were pressurising people to vote for the ruling National Conference.

Tarigami appealed to the Election Commission to take effective measures to ensure free, fair and transparent polls to restore people's faith in the Democratic process.

PTI