Delimitation shake-up: New voters could tip the balance in Charar-e-Sharief

Srinagar, Sep 11: The addition of new votes after the delimitation of the Charar-e-Sharief assembly constituency could decide the fate of candidates in the elections scheduled on September 25 here.

Former Finance Minister, Abdul Rahim Rather, is seeking to romp home for the 7th term from the assembly constituency and is pitted against former minister and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)’s General Secretary Ghulam Nabi Lone (Hanjoora), and People’s Democratic Front (PDF) Chairman Hakeem Muhammad Yaseen.

Former Minister, Abdul Qayoom’s son, Gazanfar Ali, besides the candidates from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Apni Party, and Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) are also in the fray.

However, what could decide the fate of the elections is the addition of new votes from the Khan Sahab assembly segment.

In the delimitation that was earlier undertaken, over 18,000 votes from some 26 villages in Khan Sahab constituency have been added as part of the Charar-e-Sharief segment.

After the delimitation, the constituency now has a voter strength of 1,03,126 with 52288 males and 50832 females.

Former minister Hakeem Yaseen said that he was confident about winning the seat after the addition of new votes.

“Besides the people from Khan Sahab constituency who now form part of the Charar-e-Sharief, I have received overwhelming support from across the constituency,” he said.

Yaseen is also contesting from the Khan Sahab assembly seat.

In what could also become a challenge for both the PDP and NC would be the division of votes in the main town Charar-e-Sharief, where besides Gazanfar, candidates from BJP, Awami Ittehad Party (AIP), and Apni Party have filed their nominations.

However, NC is buoyed over the lead in the 2024 parliamentary polls in which the party secured 28,097 votes against 20,251 votes bagged by PDP with Apni Party receiving 5369 votes.

However, PDP recently received a shot in the arm with the joining of Apni Party leader, Mushtaq Zoohami, who was denied the ticket on the seat.

Several voters in Charar-e-Sharief rued the lack of development in the town, saying the successive governments have ignored the place.

However, in a rare show of strength, Rather’s nomination saw people marching in heavy numbers on the roads leading to the election office in Nagam.

The nomination rally taken out by Hanjoora also had a huge strength of supporters who cheered for him as he made his way to the election office.

In the election rallies, Rather has been lashing out at PDP for forming an alliance with BJP that led to the revocation of Article 370, while Hanjoora has been targeting the former minister for securing loans for his son from Jammu and Kashmir Bank that have led to the filing of corruption cases against him.

Rather’s son, Hilal is associated with Sajad Gani Lone-led People’s Conference (PC).

In the past, Rather has been an MLA from the constituency six times and his winning streak was broken in the 2014 elections after he was trounced by Hanjoora in the polls that later saw PDP joining hands with the BJP to be in power in J&K.

In 2014, Hanjoora, who was later inducted as a minister in the PDP-BJP government, got 32,338 votes against the 27,252 votes which were secured by Rather in the polls.

In 2008, Rather had won the seat by getting 24,578 votes against 18,204 votes polled by PDP’s Lone.

In the 2002 elections, Rather won the seat by a margin of 3755 votes.

He polled 20,275 votes against 16,520 votes which were bagged by Hanjoora. The voting percentage in 2002 was 63.71 among the 62,040 electors. In 1996 polls, the turnout was 64.3 percent among the 52,975 electors. Rather also won the elections in 1996 by a heavy margin of votes.