As voting commenced for the Anantnag-Rajouri parliamentary Lok Sabha seat in Jammu and Kashmir during the penultimate phase of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, former Chief Minister and PDP candidate Mehbooba Mufti held a sit-in protest in south Kashmir, alleging rigging in the polls.
Mufti is contesting the Anantnag-Rajouri seat in the sixth phase against Mian Altaf Ahmad of the National Conference (NC) and Zafar Iqbal Manhas of the Apni Party, supported by the BJP.
Reportedly, Mufti blocked the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway in Bijbehara after sitting in protest on the highway since the morning. She accused the Union Territory administration, led by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, of being involved in the rigging.
During her sit-in protest held in the Bijbehara area of Anantnag district, Mehbooba alleged that her party workers and polling agents were being detained in police stations “without any reason”.
“Our polling agents have been detained and lodged in jails without any reason. We are asking them for the reason, but the local SHO is not telling us the reason. We think the LG, DG, and DIG South Kashmir are hand in glove,” Mehbooba said.
Calling Suspended
The PDP president also claimed that outgoing calls on her mobile number had been suspended without any explanation. “I am not able to make any calls since morning. There is no explanation for this sudden suspension of services on the day of polling in the Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency,” Mehbooba told the news agency PTI.
Slamming LG Manoj Sinha, the PDP President said, “If they had a problem with Mehbooba Mufti going to the Parliament, LG Sahib should have told me not to fight the election, but why are they repeating 87 (large scale poll rigging)?”
Strong in Anantnag-Rajouri?
Mehbooba Mufti, daughter of late Mufti Mohammad Sayyed has a strong winning history in Anantnag Constituency. She contested her first election in 1996 from the Bijbehara constituency and won.
Mufti was elected to the Lok Sabha in 2004 and 2009 from the Anantnag constituency. In 2002, her PDP party won 16 seats in the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly, and Mufti became Chief Minister in a power-sharing arrangement with Congress. In 2008, Mufti increased her party’s seat tally to 21 in the Assembly. She served as Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir from 2016 to 2018, becoming the first woman to hold that office.
This is the first general election held in Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019, and the first election in Anantnag-Rajouri following the 2022 delimitation exercise. It is difficult for Mehbooba Mufti to gain hold of the Anantnag-Rajouri constituency considering the candidate from the NC, Mian Altaf has a significant following from the tribal constituency belonging to Rajouri, which includes Gujjars and Bakarwals.
