J&K Polls: The Secular Alliance Could Get Two-thirds of Seats in Central Kashmir
Between South and Central Kashmir, the NC-Congress alliance could win up to 20 seats.
By: DAVID DEVADAS
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As the campaign for Central Kashmir ends, the National Conference (NC) is well-placed to take two-thirds of the 15 seats in that region—along with its alliance partner, the Congress party.
The once-presumed separatist parties, Jamaat-e-Islami and `Engineer’ Rashid’s AIP, have little prospect of winning more than one seat in either Srinagar city or Budgam and Ganderbal districts, which flank the capital to the west and east respectively. Even the PDP is only really in the running in a few constituencies in this region.
The only two constituencies where those who would be expected to ally with the BJP have a chance of winning are Abid Ansari of Sajad Lone’s People’s Conference in Zadibal and Apni Party chief Altaf Bukhari in Chhanapora. Many Kashmiris expect various ways and means to be at play in the latter constituency.
(The writer is the author of ‘The Story of Kashmir’ and ‘The Generation of Rage in Kashmir’. He can be reached on X at @david_devadas. This is an opinion piece and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for the same.)
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