Anantnag is poised to elect another Chief Minister to the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly if the trends are any indication. Mehbooba Mufti is seeking mandate from the seat where Congress has Hilal Shah and National Conference has Iftikhar Hussain Misgar as the other candidates among the seven in the fray. Though campaigning is at low ebb the contest is going to be a close one. The reelection comes after her father and former Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s demise. The 10-month rule of the senior Mufti was an epoch one which saw the two diametrically, ideologically opposite parties PDP and BJP coming together to form the government relegating National Conference and Congress during the Assembly elections. For BJP the outcome was the best as far as electoral gains are concerned. Most of the campaigning has been a very low profile. Though Congress’s main electioneering manager Ghulam Nabi Azad is busy with party re-strengthening exercise in Uttar Pradesh for the next year elections in the state, it had a very low campaigning with yesteryear’s Bollywood star Raj Babbar and former cricketer Mohammad Azharuddin campaigning for it. One is surprised to see of all the people Azhar campaigning in this part of the country where he has never been earlier as a party worker. The only factor is he is a Muslim and will be able to garner required numbers for the Congress candidate. Hilal Shah who had got 11,000 votes against Mufti’s 16,000 in 2014 elections could put some resistance in Mehbooba’s path. Anantnag has always registered a low turnout since the outbreak of militancy since 1990. Realising the vulnerability of the PDP and the criticality of these by-polls for Mehbooba, opposition parties have focused on putting up a tough fight. Mehbooba has the credit of never losing any election and she has been instrumental in leading the party successfully in the Assembly election and consolidating it. Whatever the ballots reveal on 25th June, when the votes will be counted, it will surely herald a new direction for Kashmir, as the region looks towards an uncertain future with the rise in local militancy and the growing alienation of the locals from the mainstream political parties. What is to be seen is will Mehbooba be able to retain the winning edge and hold the magic that reigning Chief Minister never loses?
