Srinagar, May 2: The Election Commission's cancellation of the May 25 Anantnag parliamentary by-election has triggered claims that the situation in Kashmir has worsened to early 1990s levels when India nearly lost control of the state.

The by-election had earlier been deferred from April 12 after unprecedented violence during the April 9 polling in Srinagar, when security forces' bullets killed nine people and injured scores amid an abysmal voter turnout of 7 per cent.

As it scrapped the Anantnag polls last night, the commission cited reports of "a further and continuous deterioration in the situation" and conceded that "stone-pelting, violence and rioting have rather been on the increase" since the postponement was announced on April 10.

Anantnag has emerged as the hub of the recent anti-India protests, and the authorities feared that it could witness worse violence than Srinagar.

In its 10-page order, the commission said that state government officials had revealed that the situation in Anantnag was "not good, the overall situation is scary and not very conducive".

According to the commission, the People's Democratic Party-BJP government of Mehbooba Mufti had suggested the elections be postponed.

The government apparently said the security agencies wanted to resume anti-militant operations, which were necessary to restore public order and enable elections to be held in a free atmosphere after October.

The cancellation of the polls was an admission of the state government's failure to enforce its writ in the Valley, prompting the separatists to claim victory and the Opposition to see a throwback to the early 1990s, when insurgency was at its peak.

"It was depressing to see how far we have regressed in Kashmir from the highs of Assembly polls of 2014 to the cancelled election of 2017," former chief minister Omar Abdullah tweeted.

"This is your legacy @Mehbooba Mufti. Your '5% of the people' have brought J&K back to the early 90s yet shamelessly you cling on to power!"

Omar was referring to Mehbooba's controversial remarks at the height of last year's unrest that the pro-independence protesters had the support of just five per cent of the Valley's population.

Omar said the cancellation was in many ways similar to the "symbolic victory against India scored by the release of militants for @MehboobaMufti's sister in 1990".

Militants had kidnapped Rubaiya Sayeed, younger daughter of Mehbooba's father and then Union home minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, in December 1989 and got five rebels released in exchange for her freedom.

It was in 1989 that militancy had reared its head in Kashmir, and the government could barely manage to hold parliamentary polls in the state in November that year. National Conference candidate Mohammad Shafi Bhat won uncontested from Srinagar, and Anantnag and Baramulla witnessed abysmal turnouts.

In January 1990, the state was put under central rule, which remained in force for more than six years, with no elections being held. Assembly polls were eventually held in 1996 amid unprecedented security and widespread allegations of coercion and fraud.

Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front leader Mohammad Yasin Bhat today said the cancellation of the Anantnag by-election was a victory for the separatists and a defeat for the pro-India parties.

"A similar situation prevailed in Kashmir in 1990 when pro- azadi protests were crushed with brute force, provoking thousands of youths to pick up arms. The Indian government is using the same tactics to crush protests and the results could be similar," he said.

PDP general secretary Nizamuddin Bhat welcomed the cancellation of the by-election and suggested talks with all shades of opinion in the state to defuse the crisis.