Being perhaps the first Lok Sabha election after three decades without a poll boycott call from Pakistan backed terrorists and separatists, all eyes are set on the voter turnout on Monday when polling for the sensitive Srinagar parliamentary constituency will be held.
Of the three Lok Sabha constituencies in the Kashmir valley, Srinagar is the first to go to polls during the fourth phase of the election.
Like other parliamentary constituencies in the valley, Srinagar recorded low voting percentage in the past few elections due to terror threats against participating in the electoral process. However, this time the scenario seems a bit changed as enthusiasm is being witnessed in the downtown Srinagar where not a single vote was cast in 70 booths in the last parliamentary election in 2019 when the total voter turnout in the constituency was 14.43 per cent and that too under a heavy deployment of paramilitary forces.
The byelection for the Srinagar constituency in 2017 recorded a dismal 7.12 per cent voting. The polling percentage in 2004 was 18.57 per cent that gradually improved to 25.55 per cent in 2009 and 25.86 per cent in 2014.
The Election Commission is taking several steps to motivate voters to come out in large numbers to exercise their right to franchise.
Leadership of the regional parties, particularly the National Conference (NC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have during their election campaign also asked the people to come out to vote and send a message to Delhi against abrogation of Article 370. This is the first major election after abrogation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and splitting the state into two union territories.
The key contest is between Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi of NC and the youth leader of PDP Waheed-ur-Rehman Parra in Srinagar that has been represented by three generations of the Abdullah family.
Aga Ruhullah is a well known Shia cleric and is a former MLA of Budgam and also a cabinet minister. He is grandson of Aga Syed Mustafa, who was a respected Shia leader. Dr Farooq Abdullah, NC chief who presently represents the constituency, has put in his strength to campaign for Ruhullah.
On the other hand, Parra has made efforts to connect with the youth in the constituency. He was arrested by NIA on 25 November 2020 on the charges of terror links. He was re-arrested by J&K Police after he received bail from the special NIA court. He won the district development council election in 2020 from Pulwama while being in jail. He was later released on bail by the High Court. PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti also campaigned for Parra.
The recent delimitation of constituencies saw the assembly segments in the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat getting increased to 18 from the earlier 15.
It is worth mentioning that the Srinagar constituency has remained a stronghold of the Abdullah family since 1967 when it was formed. Begum Akbar Jehan, mother of Farooq Abdullah represented the constituency in 1977. Thereafter, Farooq Abdullah himself and later his son Omar Abdullah won several elections from Srinagar. It was in 2014 that the seat went to PDP, but was won back by Farooq Abdullah in the 2017 by-polls. Again in 2019, Farooq Abdullah got 57.14 per cent votes against 2.48 per cent by the BJP candidate Khalid Jehangir.