The security situation seems to be worsening in Kashmir in the run up to the General Elections 2019. In past few weeks, suspected militants have carried out a number of attacks, including on a senior Congress leader from the restive south Kashmir’s Anantnag, who had a miraculous escape in the broad daylight shooting that left his personal security guard critically injured. In the month of March alone, at least four civilians were killed in attacks that authorities have blamed on militants. Amid fears of widespread violence on the day of polling, New Delhi is taking unprecedented security measures. For Baramulla Lok Sabha constituency, polling for which will be held on April 11, nearly hundred thousand paramilitary forces have been sought by the state government from the pool of reserve forces to prevent any untoward incident on the day of polling. As security forces have gone after militants in Kashmir and their sympathisers with full force in recent weeks and months, militants have been responding in equal measure by killing those who are seen to be working for security agencies as ‘informers’. Veiled threats are also being issued to those who are part of the mainstream. For the political parties which are in the electoral arena, it is a precarious situation. The February 14 suicide bombing in Pulwama has made one thing clear: militants can go to any extent to send out a message to their detractors. Suicide bombing was never a weapon of choice for militants in this protracted war in Kashmir. Now, with relentless and often brutal crackdown against militants that turns ordinary civilians caught between two warring sides into collateral, suicide bombing has become an option. This is something that all the political parties in Kashmir as well as the security agencies are wary of. The J&K Police has already issued advisories to the political parties, asking them to take a series of precautionary measures before embarking on poll campaigning. Given the high levels of threat perception, a complete ban has been imposed on the roadshows by candidates and the political campaigning has often been restricted to the four walls of highly garrisoned government properties, especially in the volatile areas where militancy has witnessed an uptick in recent years. The biggest challenge for the authorities, both in the region as well as in New Delhi, is to ensure that there is no violence on the polling days. In time of ‘Operation All-Out’ and the sweeping crackdown by New Delhi against the separatists and their sympathisers, the elections are likely to become a sham exercise in absence of a good voter turnout.