As the poll fervour is catching up in Srinagar, the three rival candidates belonging to the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference, Peoples Democratic Party, and APNI Party are making last-minute efforts to reach out to the electorate.
Compared to previous elections held in the region the summer Capital is witnessing a hectic political activity in the run-up to the polls. All the contesting candidates are roaming freely and organizing street corner meetings, road shows, and public rallies even in downtown areas of Srinagar. The social media platforms are also abuzz with intense debates for and against their favorite candidates in the fray.
Elaborate security arrangements have been made with adequate deployment of central forces in the region to ensure peaceful conduct of the elections happening for the first time after the Abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019.
The Srinagar Lok Sabha seat comprises 18 Assembly segments and is spread over five districts — Srinagar, Budgam, Ganderbal in central Kashmir, and Pulwama and Shopian in south Kashmir, will go to polls on May 13.
The Lok Sabha seat remained a stronghold of the National Conference. The party won the seat 12 times out of 15 parliamentary elections since 1947.
The party has faced a defeat only once in 2014 when Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Tariq Hameed Karra defeated his rival Dr Farooq Abdullah.
This time PDP's youth leader Waheed ur Rehman Para is once again giving a tough fight to the JKNC candidate Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi, an influential Shia cleric.
The entry of APNI party's Mohammad Ashraf Mir, supported by the Peoples' Conference, in the fray is set to make it a triangular contest.
There are 21 other candidates in the seat, most of them Independents.
According to poll pundits, the real contest is between the JKNC and PDP candidates. In almost all his election campaign meetings, Para focuses on sending a crisp message to the electorate, " We need representatives who will not be silent bystanders but the voice of the people inside the Parliament."
He also reminds the electorate that Assembly elections were held in 2014. “We are all sitting quietly inside our homes. Everyone is afraid to speak for fear of being picked up by the police… This election is an opportunity to voice your opinion without fear.”
The JKNC candidate is also harping on the same theme. In his election meetings, he repeatedly said the ongoing election has allowed the people of Jammu and Kashmir to vent their anger by casting a vote against the 2019 decision of the Government of India on J&K. To woo the migrant voters, JKNC candidate also apologized to Kashmir Pandits for the party’s failure to stop their migration in the wake of growing militancy in the 1990s.
According to the Returning Officer, 17.41 lakh voters including 8.68 lakh women, 8.73 lakh men, and 58 third gender are eagerly waiting for their turn to exercise their right to vote. Out of these 2.0 lakh are the first-time voters, in the age group of 18-20.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, NC’s Farooq Abdullah won the Srinagar seat by a margin of 69,976 votes, securing 1,06,596 votes. The runner-up was Aga Syed Mohsin of the PDP.
