SRINAGAR: Omar Abdullah, contesting from Ganderbal and Budgam, appealed to the voters of Ganderbal for support, amid concerns of a potential defeat.
Former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdullah is contesting from two Assembly seats, Ganderbal and Budgam. A section of leaders think that Ganderbal has the potential to throw a surprise and defeat the former chief minister, which has forced Abdullah to contest from another seat as well.
A political observer who has been tracking state politics closely said on the condition of anonymity that the top leadership in National Conference minutely knows how things can turn out to be, therefore the Abdullah made an emotional statement to woo voters in the Ganderbal constituency. He recently said that he should be given an opportunity to serve people.
He stated, “Muin dastar (my turban), muin izzat (my honour), muin topi (my cap), are in your hands, ath kariw raech (uphold it), I am appealing to you with folded hands.”
Being a person who doesn’t have much organic individual association with the electorate, Abdullah could have faced difficulty in both the seats he is contesting from, in terms of connecting with people. However, what seems to be benefitting him is the absence of strong opposition candidates on both the seats. However, what is making buzz is the jailed cleric Sarjan Barkati’s (Sarjan Ahmed Wagay) decision to contest against Abdullah on Ganderbal constituency. A week earlier, his nomination papers were rejected from the Zainapora constituency in South Kashmir. Barkati rose to fame in the post-Burhan Wani killing protests.
A political observer said, “PDP candidate on Ganderbal Assembly seat, Bashir Ahmed Mir, may contest solidly but it is less likely that he will win the seat. Another thing is that Kashmir is a mysterious place politically. So any fresh narrative on emotional grounds can change the already existing momentum and create a new momentum, just like we saw in Baramulla Lok Sabha constituency, which Engineer Rashid won by defeating the ex-chief minister Omar Abdullah. He had been front runner on 14 Assembly segments out of the 18 in Baramulla. The same way, Barkati can provoke people emotionally and he can be another Engineer Rashid if he plays on his lines. He can be a dark horse.“
In addition to that, Congress and NC have formed an alliance and as per seat sharing agreement, Ganderbal had gone to NC. Congress District President of Ganderbal, Sahil Farooq has also filed his nomination papers as an independent candidate against Abdullah, and is expected to cut into NC votes.
An expert said, “In Budgam too, Agha Mehmood, who was nurturing his constituency did not get the ticket as it became the second constituency of Omar. He was very sad with the decision and had said that he will not support Omar. But now I think everything is fine.” Other members who have filed nominations from the Ganderbal constituency and will pursue the victory against Abdullah are Apni party Candidate Er Mubashir Qazi, DPAP candidate Qaisar Sultan, and JKUM president and former MLA Sheikh Ishfaq Jabbar.
Ganderbal Assembly constituency is going to polls on September 25 in the second phase of the three-phase Assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir.During the Lok Sabha elections as well, though Abdullah was first planning to contest from the Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency, after adequate contemplation, he chose the Baramulla constituency and filed the nomination from there. According to party insiders, there was a consideration that PDP’s popular candidate Waheed-ur-Rehmaan Parra who has significant presence in few Assembly constituencies in Srinagar segment, could disturb the balance of electorate which could cause Abdullah’s defeat. On top of that, there was another consideration that Congress leader Tariq Hamid Karra who had defeated Farooq Abdullah in 2014 (at the time Karra was in PDP) with around 40,000 votes could contest from the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat as an independent which could have again obstructed Abdullah’s prospects.
A senior leader said, “He switched to Baramulla and lost from there because people saw him as someone who has aligned with centre, rather than representing Kashmiris sufficiently. They chose Engineer Rashid, youth came out and supported Rashid rather than Omar.”