Election Campaign intensifies for Assembly Polls in J&K, As Campaigning To End Today

Campaigning for the first phase of the JammuJammuJammu & Kashmir Assembly elections, in which the stakes are high for the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the National Conference, ended on Monday. Besides the traditional rivals, the electoral battle features the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Congress, the CPI(M), Independents backed by the banned Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) and Member of Parliament Sheikh Abdul Rashid, also known as Engineer Rashid, who is out on bail.

Around 23.27 lakh voters, including 5.66 lakh youths, will decide the fate of leaders such as Iltija Mufti, 37, daughter of PDP president Mehbooba Mufti, who is contesting from Srigufwara-Bijbehara. All the 16 segments of south Kashmir’s Anantnag, Pulwama, Shopian and Kugam, which the PDP claims as its bastion, will go to the polls in the first phase. In 2014, the party had won 11 seats from south Kashmir.

“Bijbehara is not just a home to the Muftis but is our bastion. It will always remain so. I pledge to serve people not as a politician but as a daughter and a sister,” Ms. Mufti said, as she wrapped up her first-ever campaign as a candidate. She is pitted against the NC’s Dr. Bashir Ahmad Veeri, who too has campaigned with vigour attracting sizeable crowds in his rallies. Ms. Mufti sought votes on the resolution of the Kashmir issue, the release of arrested youth, ending the security crackdown and guaranteeing the rights and dignity of the people, besides restoration of Article 370.