High profile contests in Budgam, Ganderbal, Chrar-e-Sharief, Khansahab, Chanapora, Shaltaing, Khanyar
SRINAGAR, SEPT 24: To the utter disappointment of their patrons, promoters and sponsors, none of the 12-odd candidates of a separatist background and support is posing a veritable challenge to Kashmir’s traditional political parties—National Conference (NC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)—in their strongholds in South and Central Kashmir in the current Assembly elections.
Of the 31 segments in the first two phases of the polling, observers are keenly watching only the three contests—Kulgam, Zainapora and Beerwah—where the candidates of the separatist profile and support appear to be faring well.
Even as the independent candidates of a separatist background and those supported by Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) have good prospects in two of the 16 segments segment in the phase-I polling in South Kashmir, they are unlikely to come off the mark in in the phase-II polling for the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly elections on Wednesday.
The CPI (M) stalwart Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami, who is sponsored by the National Conference-Congress alliance and has never lost in his home segment of Kulgam since 1996, has got a tough fight from the JeI-sponsored Sayar Ahmad Rishi. After 2002, JeI boycotted all the Indian elections but a section of it voted for the PDP candidates in South Kashmir, helping them defeat the NC candidates.
JeI has a stronghold in Kulgam. In 1972, its nominee Abdul Razak Mir of Buchru was returned from Kulgam. He also contested the Lok Sabha elections of 1971 but lost. Later, he was again elected as a candidate of the Muslim United Front MUF) in the Assembly elections of 1987. Unidentified assassins shot him dead after the outbreak of militancy.
For the first time after 1987, the JeI followers were seen coming out in large numbers and voting for Rishi, formerly the head of education and training in the outlawed JeI, on the day of polling on 18 September. He has been asserting that he is contesting the elections for “getting the ban lifted” from his organisation.
PDP rebel Aijaz Ahmad Mir is contesting as an independent candidate in Zainapora, in Shopian district, Son of the former NC leader Mohammad Jabbar Mir, who was elected from Wachi (now known as Zainapora) in 1987 and 1996, Aijaz Mir was returned in 2014. Before him, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti herself was elected from Wachi, with JeI support, in 2008.
This time round, PDP gave ticket to one Ghulam Mohiuddin Wani. Aijaz resigned and filed his papers as an independent with the declared support of JeI. Subsequently, the family of the separatist poster boy Sarjan Barkati, too announced support to Aijaz. He is in a neck-and-neck fight with NC’s ex-MLC Showkat Hussain Ganai.
JeI-backed candidate Talat Majid Allai is contesting his first election from Pulwama. He appears to have cut away substantial votes from PDP’s Waheed-ur-Rehman Para. In Pulwama, JeI has a strong vote-bank but not strong enough to win an election. PDP was the only beneficiary of JeI’s boycott since 2002. Since the JeI has its own candidate in the fray, NC’s Mohammad Khalil Bandh could emerge as an incidental beneficiary.
NC lost Pulwama in 2002, 2008 and 2014. However, its advantage in 2024 is that the PDP winner in all the three successive elections, Mohammad Khalil Bandh, is now NC’s candidate in Pulwama. In 2014, NC lost Pulwama with a thin margin of 1,000 votes.
Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) of the North Kashmir MP Engineer Rashid, which also enjoys substantial support for the voters of a separatist leaning, has fielded some candidates in both South and Central Kashmir. However, there are clear indications that AIP would give a tough fight to the strongest candidate in only Beerwah, in Budgam district, where polling is being held on Wednesday.
In Beerwah, AIP’s Nazir Ahmad Khan, currently chairman of DDC Budgam, appears to be the strongest contestant. NC’s low-profile candidate Dr Shafi Ahmad Wani, who was elected on PDP’s ticket in 2008, is now NC’s candidate. In 2014, Nazir Khan, then Congress candidate, gave a tough fight to NC’s Omar Abdullah and lost with a thin margin of around 900 votes. While Omar polled 23, 717 votes, Khan and Wani got 22,807 and 17554 votes respectively.
Khan’s father, Sarfaraz Khan was also elected as MLA from Beerwah in 2002. Khan’s only problem this time is that the jailed separatist Sarjan Barkati is likely to cut away a chunk of votes from his kitty.
In Shaltaing, Srinagar, a former JeI activist Zaffar Habib Dar is contesting as Apni Party candidate against the NC-Congress alliance nominee and J&K Pradesh Congress Committee chief Tariq Hamid Karra. However, he too doesn’t seem to be cutting much ice. Karra’s real contest is with NC’s rebel Irfan Ahmad Shah who is now contested as an independent candidate.
Both Karra, on PDP ticket, and Irfan on NC ticket have been elected in the past from Batmaloo, which is christened as Central Shaltaing after the 2022 delimitation.
Among the high-profile contests in phase-II, NC’s bigwig Abdul Rahim Rahim Rather is once again fighting PDP’s Ghulam Nabi Lone Hanjura. This time, there is a triangular contest between Rather, Hanjura and Hakeem Mohammad Yasin. Yasin has been elected from Khansahab in 1983, 2002, 2008 and 2014. He has served as Minister in different governments. This time he is contesting from Khansahab as well as Char-e-Sharief.
Rather lost his only Assembly election in 2014 when PDP’s Hanjura was returned from Char-e-Sharief. He served as a Minister in the PDP-BJP government. Rather won Assembly elections from Char-e-Sharief in 1977, 1983, 1987, 1996, 2002 and 2008. He served as cabinet Minister, mostly Minister of Finance in Farooq Abdullah’s and Omar Abdullah’s governments.
Hakeem Yasin is a repeated winner but this time in a tough triangular contest with NC’s Saifuddin Bhat and PDP’s Manzoor Ahmad Wani.
In Chanapora, Srinagar, Apni Party head and former Minister Syed Altaf Bukhari has a tough contest with NC’s greenhorn Mushtaq Ahmad Guru.
NC’s another high-profile leader Ali Mohammad Sagar is once again trying his luck in Khanyar, Srinagar. He started his career from Zainakadal and subsequently contested elections from Khanyar. He was elected on NC’s ticket in 1983, 1987, 1996, 2002, 2008 and 2014. This time he is fighting a number of candidates but none of them appears to be posing a tough challenge to Sagar.
