During her campaign for the 2024 Lok Sabha election, Mehbooba Mufti addressed a gathering in Kokernag area of south Kashmir as part of her road show. She is facing Lok Sabha elections from Anantnag-Rajouri constituency.
The May 25th polls will be crucial for PDP President Mehbooba Mufti and the BJP who are not contesting the elections formally, at least as far as Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha seat is concerned. For Ms. Mufti, whether or not she would be able to win in this seat significantly determines her prospects in upcoming Assembly poll while the BJP is backing new formed parties all over to sound its arrival bell in Kashmir Valley for the first time since 1947.
There are 20 contestants running from all major political parties that include PDP, NC, JKAP and DPAP which have been campaigning across one of most geographically difficult constituency with Rajouri-Poonch belt on one side of mighty Pir Panjal ranges and Anantnag-Kulgam-Shopian belt on other. This was due to its treacherous terrain that it took Mughal emperors between 16th and 17th Century weeks to traverse from plains of Rajouri and Poonch into Shopian South Kashmir.
It was actually in 2022 when Jammu and Kashmir Delimitation Commission put two regions together forming one Lok Sabha seat which was geographically demarcated. The entire constituency has now had an additional vote block consisting mainly of Gujjar, Bakerwal, Pahari totaling about 7,35,551 voters hailing from Rajouri and Poonch earlier dominated by speakers of Kashmiri dialects. To ensure that a candidate backed by the BJP wins these elections they are banking on mixed communities of Hindus and Muslims known as Paharis who were given Schedule Tribe status.
In fact, this move by the Election Commission to put off the elections here from May 7th to May 25th due to bad road conditions and weather enabled the BJP to enter into election campaign, with senior leaders camping in Rajouri and Poonch. BJP national general secretary Tarun Chugh, along with BJP State president Ravinder Raina and general secretary and in-charge of Anantnag-Rajouri parliamentary seat Vibodh Gupta, in a series of meetings, asked their cadre and supporters to vote for a party that can defeat the parties of Abdullahs and Muftis. In this constituency Ghulam Nabi Azad’s DPAP and Altaf Bukhari’s JKAP emerged as anti-Mufti forces.
Omar’s claim
“It was a conspiracy to delay elections because had he visited Kashmir Valley before Srinagar parliamentary elections it would have spoiled chances of those with cricket bat symbols, so the Home Minister did not want to visit JK.” NC vice-president Omar Abdullah has said that if you look at it properly; Anantnag elections were kept in sixth phase so that the Home Minister could meet officials here and damage prospects of NC candidate Mian Altaf”.
The rest of the smaller parties have also united to strengthen the anti-Abdullah and anti-Mufti front. “We made a promise to BJP that we would vote for their party after our community was given Schedule Tribe [ST] status. Recently, Amit Shah, Union Home Minister suggested that us [Paharis] should not vote for three families [Abdullahs, Muftis and Gandhis]. We have picked Zafar Manhas JKAP candidate who is Pahari and fought for saving Pahari culture,” disclosed Ali Raja Ajaz, a leader of Paharis and supporter of J&K Peoples Conference(JKPC).
In the constituency, BJP has decided to take advantage of demographic dividend of tribals to ensure that PDP and NC fail. On the other hand, in Rajouri and Poonch Ms Mufti together with her daughter Iltija Mufti have matched her campaign against BJP. They managed to bring in tribals in their poll rallies. “Our Party is only talking about unity among the Pahari’s and Gujjars which no one else is doing in this nation;” Mrs. Mufti said.
INDIA bloc member NC has put its best foot forward. NC candidate Mian Altaf Lavri is a Gujjar cleric from Kangan area in central Kashmir, where his family has been shrine caretakers for centuries serving as religious centre for Gujjar community.The shrine every year sees thousands of Gujjars visiting from all over Jammu and Kashmir on its annual ‘urs’. Larvi commands large following within his community having not lost any Kangan Assembly elections in the last twenty years.
The epic showdown will see at each other former allies NC and PDP once members of People Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) battle it out with them while backed by BJP candidates trying to scuttle their plans. Divided along tribal lines, it remains to be seen whether the 18.30 lakh voters will vote on May 25 on regional, tribal or Muslim identity of according to their fault lines.
