Can BJP break Gurez’s traditional hold?

Bandipora, Sep 29: All eyes are on the Gurez constituency in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district where a nail-biting contest is expected on October 1 when J&K goes to polls for the third and last phase.

Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) which has aggressively campaigned for its candidate in Gurez has high hopes to clinch this seat from the Kashmir division.

For this, even Defense Minister and party’s star campaigner, Rajnath Singh visited the Gurez Valley on Sunday, the last day of the campaign.

Faqeer Muhammad Khan, a one-time MLA, who is the BJP candidate, is up against former deputy speaker and National Conference’s three-time MLA, Nazir Ahmad Khan (Gurezi).

Traditionally, Khan and Gurezi have given a neck-to-neck fight, and have dominated the political landscape of the Dard Shina-speaking valley, which falls under the ST category.

Fighting as an independent, 1996 was the first election Faqeer Khan won by a margin of 777 votes while he was up against Muhammad Anwar Shangroo of NC.

The same year, Nazir Gurezi fought for Janata Dal and figured at third number, 48 votes short of the runner-up candidate.

In 2002, Gurezi, whose bastion is Dawar, the central Gurez, made a comeback and won the election by 5817 votes with Faqeer Khan losing by a margin of 732 votes.

The 2014 elections witnessed a thrilling contest. Faqeer Khan, who was contesting on a Congress ticket, narrowly lost by a margin of just 141 votes, making him the closest competitor in this election.

“More youth are attracted towards us in this election,” Aijaz Raja, Faqeer Khan’s son and DDC member on a BJP ticket told Greater Kashmir, expressing hope that this election would be a win for BJP.

Khan said the BJP's manifesto, which promises the long-pending demand for the Bandipora-Gurez road tunnel had most people in Gurez expressing confidence in voting in favour of his father, whose bastion is Tulail region of the valley with around 11,000 voters.

“The excitement among the people makes us believe we will safely cross the winning margin,” Raja said. “Rajnath Singh’s visit gave us a boost. He is a star campaigner.”

He said that there was full support from the party as Ram Madhav, Tarun Chugh, Sunil Sharma, Ashok Koul, Darakshan Andrabi, and others had visited Gurez.

However, political observers contest the claim, although suggesting a BJP mandate was possible, other players could turn the result in anyone's favour.

Notably, besides Gurezi and Faqeer Khan, Democratic Progressive Azad Party’s Nisar Ahmad Lone could also spring a surprise.

Former chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad too recently campaigned for him in Gurez.

“As low as 50 votes matter in Gurez,” a local who didn't want to be identified said. “With Nisar in the fray, the contest has become more exciting. No one can say with confidence who among the main rivals will win.”

Gurez has a total of five contesting candidates.

The assembly constituency has a total of 22,291 voters, 11723 males and 10568 females.

The ECI has set up 31 polling stations at 30 locations in the valley.