Wait and watch mood in Srinagar ahead of bypoll

Ehsan Fazili

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, March 26

Once again, Srinagar is bracing for the battle of the ballot. With the byelection to the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat due on April 9, a tough fight is on the cards between two arch rivals, the ruling PDP and opposition National Conference, but sans the traditional poll fervour in the backdrop of nearly three-decade-old militancy.

The byelection was necessitated by the resignation of sitting PDP MP Tariq Hameed Karra both from the party and Lok Sabha late last year, following his differences over the “unholy alliance” of the PDP and the BJP and handling of the 2016 unrest in Kashmir.

This byelection is going to take place in the aftermath of an undercurrent of anger against the ruling alliance and nearly six months long unrest in the Valley last year.

The National Conference-Congress alliance has taken up the challenge by fielding the NC’s stalwart, a three-time former Chief Minister and a former Union minister, Farooq Abdullah. Farooq had so far faced the only electoral defeat from Srinagar against Karra in the 2014 elections. Now, Farooq in his election campaign has on his side Karra, who joined the Congress recently after bidding farewell to the PDP. The NC and the Congress, which had a coalition government led by Omar Abdullah between 2009 and 2014, have again a poll alliance against the ruling PDP-BJP.

A general feeling of “wait and watch” is being observed in the constituency comprising three districts of central Kashmir — Srinagar, Budgam and Ganderbal.

The separatist-sponsored anti-election campaign has staged a comeback, particularly on Fridays after the rampant protest demonstrations leading to clashes between stone-throwers and the police against the civilian killings triggered by militant commander Burhan Wani’s killing in south Kashmir in July last year.

The anti-election campaign is centred in downtown Srinagar which has been witnessing more trouble than anywhere else in the capital city. However, the traditional poll fervour is lacking elsewhere in the city which forms about 50 per cent of the Assembly segments. Srinagar is spread over 15 Assembly segments — eight in Srinagar district, five in Budgam and two in Ganderbal district. The rallies have started in two districts of Budgam and Ganderbal flanking the central capital city of Srinagar.

Of the 15 Assembly segments, the PDP and the NC have got seven seats each, while the remaining seat of Khansahib in Budgam district is represented by Hakeem Mohammad Yaseen, heading his own party, the Peoples’ Democratic Front, for the past three consecutive terms. The central Kashmir has been a bastion of the National Conference, but in the past three elections the PDP has made inroads into it representing five of the eight seats in Srinagar and two in Budgam district. Two seats of Ganderbal and Kangan are represented by the NC.

The anti-PDP-BJP rant of the NC-Congress poll alliance is going to be at the centre of the poll battle with the anti-incumbency factor in the light of “unholy alliance” of the ruling parties. The PDP managed to wrest the Anantnag Assembly seat in June last year paving way for Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti to enter the Legislature.

The forthcoming byelections to Srinagar and Anantnag Lok Sabha seats are going to be a litmus test for the party, which has grown from 16 Assembly seats to the present 25 in the last three elections since it was born in 1999.