The PDP has banked on Iltija Mufti, the daughter of celebration chief Mehbooba Mufti and a third-generation member of the household, to retain its Srigufwara-Bijbehara Meeting seat, a PDP bastion since 1996. The Srigufwara-Bijbehara Meeting seat, earlier often called the Bijbehara constituency earlier than the delimitation train of 2022, goes to polls within the first part of Meeting elections in Jammu and Kashmir on September 18.
A Three-Method Contest
This constituency in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district has the least variety of candidates — simply three — of all of the 24 constituencies that can go to polls three weeks from now. The opposite two candidates within the fray are two former MLCs — Nationwide Convention (NC) chief Bashir Ahmad Shah and BJP chief Sofi Mohammad Yousuf.
Iltija Mufti’s Potential Influence
If 37-year-old Iltija Mufti emerges victorious, it will strengthen the PDP’s — and the Mufti household’s — maintain on this bastion that they’ve made their very own since 1996. Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, who based the PDP within the latter a part of his lengthy political profession, began his electoral foray with a win from the Bijbehara seat in 1962 as a candidate of the NC faction headed by Ghulam Mohammad Sadiq.
A Legacy of Management
PDP president Mehbooba Mufti additionally began her electoral politics from Bijbehara, successful on a Congress ticket. She resigned from the Meeting when the senior Mufti determined to half methods with the Congress and floated his personal regional outfit. Mufti loyalist and senior PDP chief Abdul Rehman Bhat gained 4 consecutive elections from Bijbehara until 2014, the final Meeting polls held in Jammu and Kashmir. Bhat has been given the celebration ticket from the Shangus-Anantnag West constituency this time.
Challenges from NC and BJP
Nationwide Convention candidate Bashir Ahmad Shah will probably be hoping to interrupt the PDP’s stranglehold on this constituency, which was represented by his father Abdul Gani Shah from 1977 to 1990. The oldest political celebration of Kashmir has invested closely in Bashir Ahmad Shah, giving him the celebration ticket a number of occasions, regardless that he misplaced each time. He was even made an MLC when the NC shaped a coalition authorities with the Congress from 2009 to 2014.
BJP’s Ambitions in Kashmir
Within the intense rivalry between the NC and the PDP for the Bijbehara seat, Yousuf could be hoping to garner votes to provide his celebration the primary Meeting seat from Kashmir. Yousuf, who joined the BJP when it was nonetheless thought-about a “taboo” in Kashmir, has been properly taken care of by his celebration. He was made an MLC in the course of the PDP-BJP coalition authorities.
