A close contest in Pulwama between old guards, emerging faces in offing

Pulwama, Sep 10: Plastered with posters of candidates, the campaign vehicles of different political parties carrying their supporters are seen moving through different streets of south Kashmir’s Pulwama constituencies.

The local offices of the political parties are decorated with buntings and flags, featuring their election symbols.

Rallies, road shows, and door-to-door campaigns are in full swing with contenders making every possible effort to woo the voters.

The Pulwama assembly segment has a total of 99,555 electorate with an almost equal number of male and female voters (49,423 males and 50,130 females).

There are also two transgender voters.

The election authorities have set up 112 polling stations across the constituency.

The seat has traditionally been a National Conference (NC) bastion, which sent different party leaders to the assembly in 1962, 1977, 1983, 1987, and 1996 elections.

However, the seat was won by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in 2002 with Muhammad Aziz Mir emerging victorious while the NC finished in second place.

The voting percentage in these elections was 28.38, compared to 32.26 percent in 1996.

The 1996 elections were very crucial as these were held after a long-drawn-out central rule of 6 years.

The PDP continued to retain the seat in subsequent elections of 2008 and 2014 with Muhammad Khalid Bandh winning the seat both times.

A political analyst from the area said that the 2002 elections were of great significance for the PDP.

“It marked the beginning of the creation of a new PDP constituency,” he said.

However, the party suffered a setback when Bandh decided to end his almost two-decade-long association with the party in 2019.

He later joined the NC.

There are 12 candidates in the fray with key political parties including PDP, NC, and AIP making unceasing efforts to win the seat.

The entry of former Jamaat member Talat Majeed has added a new dimension to the seat.

However, the seat is poised to witness a nip and tuck contest between Bandh, who is seeking a fourth term, and PDP’s youth leader Waheed-ur-Rehman Parra.

Parra recently fought the Lok Sabha elections from the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat and lost to the NC candidate Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi.

In 2020, Parra contested the DDC election from jail and won it with people in large numbers voting for him.

The seat is going to polls on September 18 in the first phase of polling.

Until then, the political area will continue to remain abuzz with poll campaigns.