Srinagar/Jammu: The Budgam assembly segment in Kashmir, along with Nagrota in Jammu region, will go to polls on Tuesday to elect new representatives after the seats fell vacant last year.
In Budgam, as many as 17 candidates are in the fray for the seat where bypoll was necessitated after Chief Minister Omar Abdullah vacated the seat, retaining Ganderbal after winning both the constituencies in the 2024 assembly elections.
Budgam has been a bastion of the National Conference (NC), with its candidates securing victory from the constituency since 1962, barring once in 1972 when the Congress candidate won from the seat.
NC Lok Sabha MP from Srinagar, Aga Ruhullah Mehdi, won from the Budgam seat in the 2002, 2008 and 2014 assembly polls, before Abdullah emerged victorious from here in 2024.
Mehdi has since fallen out with the party leadership over several issues, including the current reservation policy in Jammu and Kashmir, and did not campaign for the party candidate for the byelection.
An influential Shia leader, Mehdi’s absence from the campaign of NC candidate Aga Mehmood, who happens to be his relative, is seen as a major challenge for the party.
The ruling party has spared no effort — deploying senior leaders, including the chief minister himself and his cabinet colleagues — to campaign for the party candidate and ensure victory from Budgam. The campaigning ended Sunday evening.
Mehmood faces a stiff challenge from the PDP’s (People’s Democratic Party) Aga Muntazir.
Besides the two Shia candidates, other key candidates include the BJP’s Syed Mohsin, Awami Ittehad Party’s Nazir Ahmad Khan, Aam Aadmi Party’s Deeba Khan, and independent candidate Muntazir Mohiuddin.
If the NC emerges victorious from the seat, it would be a morale boost to the party not just electorally, but organisationally too, as it would demonstrate the party’s ability to pull a favourable result even without Mehdi, who enjoys a significant sway in the constituency.
The by-election would also be a test for the ruling party on another level — its 2024 assembly poll promises.
The NC contested the assembly elections last year with the promise to strive for restoration of Jammu and Kashmir’s political and legal status under articles 370 and 35-A, and statehood as prior to August 5, 2019.
It also promised repealing the Public Safety Act (PSA), introducing a job package for the youth, and implementing a balanced reservation policy.
However, after coming to power, the ruling party has faced criticism for shifting focus from the restoration of Article 370, instead pushing for the restoration of statehood.
The chief minister has also been criticised for not being able to deliver on several other key poll promises, including revising the existing job reservation policy.
The opposition mounted a strong campaign accusing the Abdullah-led government of “failing” to deliver on its promises, including that of job creation, 200 units of free electricity, and a fair reservation policy.
Abdullah, however, has asserted that all the promises would be fulfilled. To counter the opposition’s charges, the NC led an aggressive campaign, with the chief minister visiting the constituency for three consecutive days before the campaign ended. Abdullah addressed several gatherings and roadshows and appealed to the electorate to vote for the party candidate.
The Budgam assembly constituency has around 1.26 registered voters for whom 173 polling stations have been set up, officials said.
They said all arrangements, including a tight security cover, are in place to ensure smooth polling.
Together with Budgam, Nagrota assembly constituency in Jammu region is also going for bypolls, with 10 candidates in fray.
The segment is witnessing a three-cornered contest among the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), NC and the Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP).
The bypoll was necessitated following the demise of former MLA Devender Singh Rana on October 31 last year.
His 30-year-old daughter, Devyani Rana, riding on public sympathy and goodwill, is contesting on a BJP ticket.
She faces NC’s 37-year-old nominee Shamim Begum, a postgraduate in Urdu and a sitting District Development Council (DDC) member, and JKNPP president Harsh Dev Singh, a senior advocate and former education minister.
“All necessary arrangements have been put in place for smooth polling. Adequate security measures have also been ensured,” a senior official said.
He added that polling staff, static and mobile surveillance teams, and magistrates have been deployed across booths.
A total of 97,893 voters are eligible to cast their vote at 154 polling stations.
Campaigning concluded on Sunday evening. Leaders from multiple parties camped in the constituency over the past month.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Union Minister Jitendra Singh, Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary, and several senior NC and BJP leaders addressed rallies in support of their respective candidates. BJP president Sat Sharma also canvassed for Devyani Rana.
Devyani Rana, an economics graduate from the University of California who manages her family’s media and automobile businesses, has promised a “professional and inclusive approach to development”.
Begum, banking on her grassroots connect and NC cadre support, has projected herself as a candidate of continuity and service delivery at the local level.
Harsh Dev Singh, who represented Ramnagar for three consecutive terms in 1996, 2002 and 2008, is contesting from Nagrota for the first time.
Anil Sharma, a former sarpanch and BJP rebel, is contesting as an Independent after failing to secure the party mandate. Another lawyer, Joginder Singh, is in the fray as the AAP candidate. Five more Independents are also contesting.
Nagrota has alternated between the BJP and NC over five elections since 1996. Ajatshatru Singh (NC) won in 1996, followed by BJP’s Jugal Kishore Sharma in 2002 and 2008. Devender Singh Rana won the seat for NC in 2014 and retained it in 2024 as a BJP candidate after switching parties in 2021.
The Congress has not fielded a candidate and did not formally join the NC campaign despite being coalition partners at the union territory level.
Candidates made final appeals urging voters to turn up in large numbers on polling day.
