Former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah
Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir seem to be between regional parties and the BJP. There is a direct fight between the National Conference (NC) and the PDP on some seats in Kashmir. In which one seat of Budgam is also being considered.
Selection of candidate for Budgam seat was a big challenge for the National Conference. Because before this, Agha Ruhullah used to win the Budgam seat and hand it over to the National Conference. But he has reached the parliament by winning the Srinagar seat in the recently held Lok Sabha elections. This time, the PDP, after approaching the first National Conference and holding discussions with former separatist leader Agha Syed Hasan’s son Syed Muntajir Mehdi, convinced him as its candidate, compounding NC’s woes.
Not only Shia leader Syed Muntzir Mehdi is contesting from the Budgam seat, but Shia candidate Agha Syed Ahmed Mustafa of Awami National Conference, a political party allied to the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), is also in the fray. who is also the uncle of MP and Shia leader Agha Ruhullah and Syed Muntajir Mehdi, which is believed to split the Shia votebank here.
According to experts, as the National Conference realized that the Shia votebank was splitting, it roped in former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to woo Sunni votes. However, experts also say that it will be difficult for Omar to transfer Shia votes to himself.
According to some Shia voters of Budgam, Syed Muhtazir Mehdi’s father Agha Syed Hasan Almosvi currently heads the Anjuman Sher-e-Shia, the community’s largest social, religious and political forum. Syed Muntajir Mehdi also stands to benefit from this, as Muntajir’s father is the most prominent religious leader of the community as opposed to the Shia community.
However, speaking at MP Agha Ruhullah’s residence in Budgam on the nomination buzz, Omar Abdullah said contesting from two assembly seats was not a sign of weakness but proved the strength of his party. According to him, he wanted to show that the National Conference is not fighting this election in a weak but strong position. If he had any threat of defeat from Budgam, his party colleagues would not have allowed him to contest from here.
Voters are confused
After the Ganderbal seat, nominations have also been filed from Budgam and voters at the grassroots level are confused as to which seat Omar will represent after his victory. According to experts, such confusion is not good for the candidates contesting the election. Because voters want to avoid such a confusing situation and chances of benefiting the opponent are high.
