BJP Surrenders Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha Seat in Jammu and Kashmir; Leaves it Open for NC, PDP

The saffron party has not fielded candidates for Baramulla and Srinagar seats also due to lack of cadres, but surrendering the Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha seat has baffled many given the party's formidable support among the Pahadi vote bank after the grant of Scheduled Status for the Pahadi community and implementing forest rights act in Jammu and Kashmir for the Gujjar population, reports ETV Bharat's Mir Farhat.

Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir): With the nomination for Anantnag-Rajouri parliamentary seat of Jammu and Kashmir which goes to polls in the third phase of voting on May 7, ending on Friday April 19, the Bharatiya Janata Party has not fielded any candidate on the seat and left the electoral battle open between National Conference and People's Democratic Party.

“The party leadership has decided not to field any candidate from Anantnag-Rajouri seat. The leadership will decide which candidate it will support,” Ashok Koul,” BJP General Secretary (Organisation), JK, told ETV Bharat.

BJP has not fielded any candidate in Baramulla and Srinagar seats also as the party has no cadre in these two segments. But leaving Anantnag and Rajouri contest between NC and PDP has baffled its leaders in Jammu and Kashmir who say the party had good support of Pahadis as it granted them Scheduled Status while also implementing forest rights act in Jammu and Kashmir that benefits Gujjar population. Dozens of Pahadis had joined the BJP after the population was granted reservation and had vowed support to BJP. The pahadi reservation angered the Gujjar population who are now campaigning against BJP. Sources in BJP said that the J&K leaders tried to convince the Delhi leadership to field a candidate but the leadership didn’t agree.

“What can we say why the leadership left the constituency vacant,” Koul said.

Former chief minister and National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah took pot-shots on BJP for not contesting directly in three seats of Kashmir rather than supporting its “proxies”, hinting at Sajad Lone of Peoples Conference and Apni Party.

“BJP had fielded candidates on all six seats of Jammu and Kashmir in 2019 parliament elections. Home Minister Amit Shah is saying they will first win hearts of the people of Jammu and Kashmir and then will cones elections in Kashmir, which means BJP has failed to win hearts of people after abrogation of Article 370,” Omar told reporters in Srinagar.

Having over 18 lakh voters, the Anantnag-Rajouri seat is slated for polling on May 7 and the constituency is spread from Anantnag in south Kashmir to Poonch in Pir Panjal after delimitation. The 18 assembly segments in Anantnag, Kulgam, Poonch and Rajouri are connected by a treacherous Mughal Road and Jammu-Srinagar highway, with a distance of more than 200 kilometres.

The candidates will find it tough to canvas and campaign in the constituency which is separated by a huge Pir Panjal mountain range that has security challenges also, as Pir Panjal region saw major attacks in the last two years on security forces by militants killing as many as 20 army personnel in Rajouri and Poonch.

National Conference and PDP candidates Mian Altaf and Mehbooba Mufti, respectively, are locked in a direct contest on the seat. Former Congress leader and Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) Ghulam Nabi Azad backed out of the contest even as his party had announced his candidature weeks ago. DPAP has fielded DDC member advocate Saleem Parray on the seat.

Apni Party has fielded Zaffar Manhas, a pahadi leader from Shopian. Manhas, who hails from Shopian district, was an MLC with PDP but later switched over to Apni Party in 2020. Manhas can draw Pahadi votes in Poonch and Rajouri segments.

Five-time legislator from Kangan, Ganderbal, assembly segment, Mian Altaf the senior Gujjar leader has formidable support among Gujjar and Bakerwaals in Pir Panjal as his late father Mian Bashir was their spiritual and political leader. Mian Bashir was with Congress in his earlier political life and late joined NC.

Mehbooba Mufti, the former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, has been an MP and MLA from Anantnag but lost the 2019 parliament elections against NC. Mehbooba, however, has good support among Gujjar and Bakerwaals due her support of the community during eviction drives in Jammu and Rassana rape and murder case of a minor girl in 2017.

Meanwhile, Apni Party has sought postponement of the elections on the seat, which is slated for polls on May 7, citing adverse weather and closure of the Mughal road that links Rajouri and Poonch districts with Anantnag via Shopian.

“I urged the @ECISVEEP @HMOIndia to kindly defer the elections of Anantnag-Rajouri Parliamentary constituency to a later phase due to heavy snowfall and incessant rains, closure of Mughal Road connecting two regions across Pir Panjal made it difficult for the parties to campaign,” Apni Party vice president Choudhary Zulfkar Ali said on X.

Zulfkar has urged the ECI to facilitate voting of migratory population of Gujjars and Bakerwaals if the polls are deferred.

“If the sources are to be believed, the elections to Anantnag Rajouri Parliamentary constituency the deferment of polling date will impact the migratory votes in such circumstances @ECISVEEP is requested to ensure the full participation of migratory population by setting up polling stations in Dhoks and pastures. Otherwise a large section of the society will be deprived of their right to franchise,” he wrote on X.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Electoral Officer Pandurang Kodarao Pole said that ECI is the authority to decide the dates of the elections.

"Date for polling is fixed by the Election Commission of India. When we receive any such direction from the commission, we will share it with the people," Pole told ETV Bharat.