After intense electioneering in Lok Sabha poll, keen contest likely on all 8 Poonch-Rajouri seats

Arjun Sharma

Jammu, August 19

Following intense campaigning by political parties during the Lok Sabha elections held this year, Rajouri and Poonch districts along the Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) are set to become major political battleground in the upcoming Assembly polls, with high stakes for all parties involved.

While the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had backed the Apni Party candidate from Anantnag LS constituency, which included Rajouri and Poonch, Congress was in alliance with the National Conference (NC) and did not field a candidate from the constituency in LS polls. In a tough fight, National Conference (NC) candidate Mian Altaf defeated Peoples Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti from the seat.

However, with BJP’s J&K chief Ravinder Raina making it clear that the party will not enter a pre-poll alliance and NC and Congress not opening their cards about an alliance for Assembly polls, there are indications that the eight assembly constituencies in Rajouri and Poonch may witness a four-cornered contest. There are five constituencies in Rajouri including Kalakote-Sunderbani, Nowshera, Rajouri, Budhal and Thannamandi while three in Poonch, including Surankote, Poonch, Haveli and Mendhar. Five of these eight are reserved for Scheduled Tribe (ST).

After the LS polls, the BJP insiders had said that the party would have benefited in Rajouri and Poonch areas if it had fielded its own candidate instead of backing Apni Party. BJP-led Central government had earlier this year also granted ST status to the Pahari community, which has a significant population in these twin districts.

A power-packed electoral campaign is now expected by all parties in the two districts in the coming days. The BJP has been able to woo a prominent Gujjar leader, Chowdhary Zulfikar Ali, who joined the saffron party on Sunday. Zulfikar was a leader of Apni Party and his joining BJP is expected to benefit the party to some extent.

On the other hand, the NC will bank on the charisma of its popular Gujjar spiritual leader Mian Altaf, who is now the Member Parliament from Anantnag constituency. The Gujjar population is considered to be a deciding factor on most of the seats in these two districts.

NC was able to secure majority votes in Rajouri and Poonch districts during the LS polls. While sources in Congress said that after initial talks for alliance between Congress and NC, these seem to have hit a wall. “Multiple candidates from opposition parties might help BJP gain some seats in the two districts. The division of Muslim vote-bank can also help the saffron party due to which a strategic alliance is possible in coming days for these areas,” sources said.