Ehsan Fazili/Srinagar

All eyes are on the Srinagar downtown, which was once a bastion of election boycott and defiance as the City goes to the polls in the second phase of Assembly elections on September 25. This phase will also decide the fate of National Conference leader Omar Abdullah who is contesting from two constituencies - Budgam and Ganderbal.

In these three districts, 15 Assembly constituencies are going to the polls along with 11 constituencies in three districts of Poonch, Rajouri, and Reasi in the Jammu region.

Of the 15 Assembly segments going to the polls in the second phase, Srinagar has eight, Budgam five, and, Ganderbal two. Most of these seats that are today new names and geographies due to delimitation exercise, from 1977 onwards were represented by National Conference (NC).

The NC has represented all the seven Assembly segments of Srinagar, except the Eidgah constituency, which had gone to Abdul Rashid Kabli of the Janta Party in 1977.

With no boycott calls or threats from militant organizations, it is expected that downtown would have a sizeable increase in turnout to at least 40 percent. In the past four Assembly elections, the voter turnout was below 20 percent.

Analysts fear that the National Conference may face the risk of losing three seats of Hazratbal, Eidgah, and Channapora. Channapora was earlier part of the Amirakadal constituency, and it was represented for four terms by the NC between 1977 and 1996. Mohammad Shafi Bhat, who represented it in 1996, won the seat again as an Independent in 2002.  It was won by PDP’s Altaf Bukhari in 2014. Bukhari.

Bukhari, a former minister and the leader of his J&K Apni Party is contesting against the NC and other candidates from the Channapora constituency.

Apart from the arch-rivals, National Conference and PDP, the J&K Apni Party led by former PDP minister, Mohammad Altaf Bukhari and Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) led by Abdul Rashid Sheikh aka Er Rashid, newly elected MP from Baramulla are also in the fray.

NC released this video of the party campaign on X:

Campaigning for my colleague @tanvirsadiq on the famous Dal Lake today. #elections #kashmir #kashmirelection pic.twitter.com/Cgz8dz4x3a

— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) September 22, 2024

The poll percentage in the 1996 elections in Srinagar was as follows: Hazratbal 23.78 percent; Zadibal 12.71; Eidgah 20.14; Khanyar 12.79; Hbbakadal 17.17; Amirakadal 12.65; Sonwar 34.71; and Batamaloo 19.72.

In the 2014 Assembly elections, the PDP, which has had its base in South Kashmir, made inroads into the bastion of NC in Srinagar, winning five of the eight seats, leaving NC with only three seats of Eidgah (Mubarak Gul), Khanyar (Ali Mohammad Sagar) and Habbakadal (Shameema Firdous.

While Kashmir’s Valley’s most parts are seeing a loud and interesting campaigning, in comparison, downtown Srinagar saw a low-key campaign. The campaigning ended Monday evening.

The highlight of the NC campaigning was a Shikara rally organized by the National Conference in Dal Lake. Vice president of the Party and candidate from two constituencies Omar Abdullah led the shikara rally.

The Dal Lake area is part of the Zadibal constituency, and the former mayor of Srinagar Junaid Azim Muttu is contesting as an independent. He posted this video of his campaigning on social media:

Mir Behri, #Zadibal has spoken. And I, your son and your brother, am truly humbled.#InshaAllahZadibal 🛺 pic.twitter.com/uUTDJ18GC4

— Junaid Azim Mattu (@Junaid_Mattu) September 23, 2024

The common issues raised by the parties are the usual pani-bijli-sadak to the eradication of unemployment and drug addiction. The issues of restoration of Article 370 and Statehood to Jammu and Kashmir, following the decisions on August 5, 2019, are also part of the manifestoes of different political parties. Interestingly, the “resolution of the Kashmir issue” is missing in the election din and has been replaced by the restoration of statehood.

There are no boycott calls or incidents of violence, in downtown Srinagar or elsewhere in the Kashmir valley. Mirwaiz (chief priest) Moulvi Umar Farooq, who headed the separatist Hurriyat Conference (APHC), had earlier opined that the Kashmir issue and the local elections were separate issues.

The Mirwaiz, who has been put under house arrest again since early this month, has expressed concern over the arrest of youth describing it as “enforcing peace and normalcy by force” while advocating peace. The chief cleric of Kashmir addresses Friday congregations at Srinagar’s main Jamia Masjid located in the Nowhatta area of downtown.      

In Srinagar district, 13 candidates are in the fray in Hazratbal; 10 candidates in Khanyar; 16 candidates in Habbakadal; 10 candidates in Lal Chowk; eight candidates in Channapora; 10 candidates in Zadibal; 13 candidates in Eidgah; while 13 candidates are contesting in Central Shalteng.

There are 7,76,674 registered voters, including 3,87,722 males, 3,88,922 females, and 30 transgender voters across eight Assembly constituencies.

25.78 lakh voters to decide the fate of 239 candidates in the second phase of Assembly elections.