Srinagar: As counting starts, three Lok Sabha constituencies of Kashmir have become a center of attraction given the political dynamics post Article 370 abrogation and reorganization of the state into two union territories.
National Conference has won 10 out of 13 elections from Srinagar. Former chief minister Farooq Abdullah won the seat in 2019. Before Farooq, his son Omar Abdullah and his mother Begum Akbar Jehan Abdullah also represented the seat in the Lok Sabha.
The only national party to ever win the Srinagar seat is Congress. Ghulam Mohammad Mir Magami of the Congress party won from Srinagar in 1996. Over the years, other parties have also started making inroads in the seat. In 2014, Tariq Hameed Karra of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) won the seat.
In this general election, the NC has fielded Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi who is pitted against PDP’s Waheed-ur-Rehman Para and Mohammad Ashraf Mir from the J&K Apni Party (JKAP).
Srinagar Lok Sabha seat had 24 candidates competing, including one woman candidate, Waheeda Tabasum Shah, cancer surgeon Ashraf Qazi, and social media influencer Jibran Firdous Dar.
In 2024, Jammu and Kashmir witnessed its highest poll participation in the last 35 years. The Combined Voter Turnout (VTR) at the polling stations for the entire Union Territory (5 Lok Sabha seats) was 58.46 percent in the General Elections 2024, whereas Srinagar was 38 percent.
In Baramulla, Omar Abdullah is up against Sajad Gani Lone of the People’s Conference (PC) and jailed Engineer Rashid of the Awami Ithad Party (AIP). All three candidates have pulled out all the stops to woo the electorate.
PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti is pitted against National Conference’s Mian Altaf Ahmad of the National Conference (NC) in Anantnag constituency which is stretched between Kashmir and Jammu.
