A lot is stake for former J&K chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, who is among the 18 candidates whose fate will be decided on Monday in phase four of polling in Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency.
The south Kashmir constituency is voting in three rounds– first was on April 23, second April 29 and last on May 6. The staggered voting in this parliamentary constituency spread across four districts – Anantnag, Pulwama, Kulgam and Shopian – is necessitated by security concerns in the state that sends six MPs to the Lok Sabha.
The six assembly segments that went to poll in phase one on Tuesday recorded a low turnout of 12.86 per cent against 39.37 per cent in 2014 in the corresponding segments.
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These elections are crucial for the political future of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led by Mehbooba Mufti. She is up against the unease among voters and low morale within the party over PDP’s decision to form an alliance with the BJP.
In 2014, Mehbooba had won the Anantnag Lok Sabha seat by defeating NC candidate Mehboob Beg by more than 65,000 votes. When Mehbooba became J&K chief minister in 2016 after her father’s demise, she got elected from her father’s assembly seat and vacated her Lok Sabha seat with an intention to field her younger brother Tasaduq Mufti from there.
{{/usCountry}}In 2014, Mehbooba had won the Anantnag Lok Sabha seat by defeating NC candidate Mehboob Beg by more than 65,000 votes. When Mehbooba became J&K chief minister in 2016 after her father’s demise, she got elected from her father’s assembly seat and vacated her Lok Sabha seat with an intention to field her younger brother Tasaduq Mufti from there.
{{/usCountry}}Read: All you need to know about Jammu and Kashmir
But, the poll panel had to defer by-polls for south Kashmir due to security reasons and for three years the Anantnag Lok Sabha seat remained vacant.
Since the formation of the party in 1999, four districts of south Kashmir have become the PDP’s bastion, but now the party is fighting for survival and hoping that Mehbooba will win, which would boost the otherwise demoralised cadres of the PDP.
Thin attendance at the party rallies and a recent attack on Mehbooba’s cavalcade has rung alarm bells for the party strategists. “If Mehbooba loses from south Kashmir, it is going to be a big dent on our party. Our main focus is to mobilise our cadres on the voting day,” said a senior party leader close to Mehbooba.
Anantnag will witness a triangular contest between Mehbooba Mufti, NC candidate Justice Hasnain Masoodi (retd) and Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress president Ghulam Ahmad Mir.
Mir is an experienced politician and former minister, while the NC has picked a retired justice as its candidate and is hoping that resentment against the PDP could help the party. The BJP has also fielded its only Muslim legislator from Kashmir, Sofi Yousuf, from the constituency.