Is Lok Sabha Polls A Mirror For New Political Parties?
Er Rashid sweeps most assembly segments in North Kashmir
Mudasir Yaqoob
Srinagar, June 5: In Lok Sabha polls to which results were declared on Tuesday might have shocked the People’s Conference and J&K Apni Party which failed to secure even a single seat to Parliament despite its massive election campaigning.
Apni Party led by former minister and former close aide of Mehbooba Mufti Syed Altaf Bukhari fielded two candidates — Zafar Manhas on Anantnag-Rajouri Parliamentary Constituency (PC) and Ashraf Mir on Srinagar PC.
Apni Party openly admitted the support from BJP and said that it welcome the ‘alliance.’
People’s Conference chief Sajad Gani Lone contested from Baramulla PC.
BJP also hinted at ‘alliance’ with Apni Party saying that though it has not fielded any candidate in three PC seats of Kashmir but supports “like minded parties.”
It was expected that the vote bank of BJP would boost the vote share of Apni Party while Apni Party extended its support to People’s Conference in Baramulla PC.
In Anantnag-Rajouri, the number of registered voters is around 17 lakh while around 10,26420 lakh people exercised their right to franchise.
Out of votes polled, National Conference candidate from Anantnag-Rajouri PC bagged 521836 votes, defeating his close rival Mehbooba Mufti with margin of 281794 votes.
In Srinagar, NC candidate Aga Ruhullah defeated PDP candidate Waheed Parra with margin of 1,88,416 votes.
On both seats, the Apni Party presence remained invisible in terms of scored votes.
Apni Party secured just 142195 votes in Anantnag-Rajouri PC and 65954 votes in Srinagar PC.
Given the fact of support from BJP, it can be presumed that both Apni Party and BJP secured just 142195 votes out of nine lakhs votes polled in Anantnag-Rajouri PC and just 65953 in Srinagar PC.
As the results were declared, the hopes of Apni Party dashed. Altaf Bukhari in a post on X said that he was happy to see two former Chief Ministers being rejected by people but forget to congratulate National Conference for winning two seats in Kashmir.
Apparently, his post on X was a face-saving effort but got just 381 likes and 76 reposts for his say till Wednesday 6:30 pm.
In North Kashmir, Er Rashid, if fields candidates on assembly segments, can prove a great threat to Apni Party and Peoples Conference.
Er. Rashid got highest number of votes in 15 assembly segments, leaving an emphatic impact on his opponents.
The Baramulla constituency has 18 assembly segments. In frontier district Kupwara which is considered strong hold of National Conference and Peoples Conference, Er. Rashid has interestingly got over 1.5 lakh votes in the district and has remained on top in five out of six assembly segments.
Assembly segments in which Er. Rashid got highest number of votes include Karnah 20061 votes, Trehgam 19619, Kupwara 22849, Lolab 28120, Langate 40226, Sopore 25099, Rafiabad 41041 votes, Uri 28644, Baramulla 34357, Gulmarg 25720, Wagoora 20665, Sonawari 29931, Bandipora 42404, Budgam 24604 and Beerwah 27469 votes.
Postal Ballot votes have also been on his side, with 2907 votes he has remained on number one spot.
Given the fact that Er Rashid swept Baramulla constituency which is spread over Kupwara, partial Budgam and Bandipora can have potential to defeat the traditionally dominant politicians and win few assembly seats in upcoming assembly polls for which Supreme Court has set September 2024 as deadline.
