The security arrangements have been finalised for the crucial by-poll in south Kashmir’s Anantnag Assembly constituency where Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti is facing her first electoral test after assuming power in the embattled State two-and-half months ago.
Officials said that men and machinery; and the polling material have reached all the 102 polling stations in the constituency, that witnessed a string of violent incidents during the past three weeks. As many as 52 polling booths have been categorised as hypersensitive while the rest are in the sensitive category.
Mehbooba has extensively campaigned in the constituency during the past few days mostly addressing road shows and holding closed-door meetings with the prospective voters. On Tuesday she skipped the in-session assembly where demand for grants for her own departments was scheduled. A senior Minister who tabled the demands in the House said that the CM was not keeping well.
Mehbooba took oath as Chief Minister on April 4 and is required to become member of one of the two houses of J&K legislature within six months. She is currently lok Sabha member representing south Kashmir constituency comprising Anantnag, Pulwama, Shopian and Kulgam districts.
She chose to contest by-poll from the Anantnag segment that fell vacant after the demise of her father and former Chief Minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed.
The Congress has repeated its candidate Hilal Ahmad Shah, who gave a tough fight to late Mufti in 2014 assembly polls when the constituency with 83,574 votes saw total 39.73 per cent turnout. Shah was defeated with a margin of 6,000 votes as he polled 10,955 votes against Mufti’s total of 16,983 votes.
This time around, 84,081 voters have been registered (42,924 male and 41,156 female) in the constituency but the turnout is not expected to be too high due to recent incidents of violence in the area.
The Opposition, National Conference, has repeated its candidate Iftikhar Misgar. However, he has not been able to create an impression among the electorate. The NC lost its powerful contender Mehboob Beg shortly before the 2014 elections when he withdrew his nomination in favour of late Mufti. Beg is now the chief spokesman of the ruling PDP.
The Congress has vigorously campaigned for its candidate who boasts his role in helping out local people during the devastating floods of September 2014. The JKPCC chief Gulam Ahmad Mir camped in the town for the entire campaigning period to boost his party candidate. He even introduced famed actor Raj Babbar and former skipper of Indian cricket team Muhammad Azharuddin to campaign for Shah.
However, the security concerns will be paramount to the electorate when they decide to hit the polling booths on June 22. In the first week of this month, militants struck at two places in and around Anantnag constituency and killed three Border Security Force (BSF) men and two police personnel.
The Hizbul Mujahideen outfit also circulated posters in the area warning locals to desist from voting for the “Indian stooges”.
Even as Mehbooba is considered favourite in the by-poll, the situation in the area has given many a sleepless nights to her and her poll managers. If the turnout on Wednesday does not become too impressive, it will be a major cause of worry for the incumbent Chief Minister.