Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah is facing perhaps the toughest electoral battle of his life. Having won from Ganderbal in 2008 Assembly elections, Omar had taken over the reigns of the militancy-hit state with a lot of hope.
Six years later, those hopes lie in tatters as his six-year tenure was marked with several instances of poor administration, massive corruption, lack of development and an overall inertia in the government. The 2010 stone pelting incidents in which over 120 people, a majority of them being teenaged boys, were killed and the devastating floods in Kashmir Valley in 2014 are the two biggest blots on his regime.
Omar's National Conference ended the alliance with Congress just a few weeks before the Assembly elections after the disastrous Lok Sabha elections which saw the Mufti Mohammad Sayeed-led Peoples Democratic Party winning Anantnag, Baramulla and Srinagar while the Bharatiya Janata Party won Jammu, Udhampur and Ladakh.
With the NC-Congress combine failing to even open their accounts in the state, the writing on the wall was very clear. Omar's lacklustre leadership, arrogance of his ministers and party leaders coupled with poor governance had alienated a large section of the state including many who had backed him in 2008.
Sensing the massive anger against his rule, Omar left Ganderbal and decided to try his luck from two different seats - Beerwah and Sonawar. While Beerwah has already voted in the third phase on December 9, polling in Sonawar, one of the eight Assembly segments in Srinagar, will take place on December 14.
But his path is strewn with thorns and he is fighting with his back to the wall in Sonawar. His father Farooq Abdullah had barely managed to scrape through by 94 votes in Sonawar in 2008 although the National Conference has managed to represent the seat ever since it was carved out in 1995.
Like several other regions of Kashmir Valley, Srinagar also suffered massively during the recent floods. In fact the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir was the worst affected.
The shoddy relief and rescue work carried out by the state administration has left the people extremely angry and bitter. With the government giving a measly compensation in which the maximum amount is of Rs 75,000 for people whose houses were completely destroyed to Rs 3,800 to those who suffered loss of goods acting as salt on a festering wound, Omar has his task cut out.
"No one helped us during and after the floods. Officials demand bribe to release the compensation amount. We cannot get any work done in this government without paying bribe. It is almost impossible to find an honest official," said 85-year-old National Conference worker Haji Ghulam Qadir Lone.
Lone, who lives in Badami Bagh cantonment area of Srinagar, claimed that he has been with the party since the age of 25 but now had lost all hope. "Impossible, it is impossible," is all he said when asked if Omar had any chance of winning the seat.
He added that he refused to accept the compensation for flood damage as there was no point in taking just Rs 3,800 when he had lost goods and household article worth several lakhs.
At a Sonawar market retired professor Mohammad Sidiq Mallik blamed corruption in the government for lack of development and jobs for youngsters. "I have four daughters. All of them are post graduates with B Ed degrees, yet they have not been selected by the state government for the post of school teacher as they did not bribe the officers. My son is an engineer and he has moved out ofKashmir. He does not want to return as there is no job for him here," he said bitterly. Adding that people are extremely disillusioned by the current state of affairs, he said there will be a change of government.
Omar is also facing allegations of eyeing Bharatiya Janata Party's support in forming a government in case of a hung Assembly as the latter has put up Darkshan Andrabi, who is not a political heavyweight, against him.
The scene is no different in the other seven seats of Srinagar with the ruling National Conference almost boxed into a corner and a resurgent Peoples Democratic Party going all out.
Just as PDPD chief Mufti Mohammad Sayeed contesting from Anantnag is proving to be a positive influence for his party in the neighbouring seats, Omar's unpopularity his dragging down his party in Srinagar. National Conference General Secretary Ali Mohammad Sagar is facing a tough battle in down-town Khanyar against PDP's Khurshid Alam with Mohammad Yaqub Vakil of the Congress the third corner.
Although separatist leader of All Parties Hurriyat Conference (Hardline) Syed Ali Shah Geelani has given a call to boycott elections but the appeal has failed to influence the voters much in the first three phases with the exception of Sopore where about 30 per cent of the voters pressed the EVM buttons. With people demanding "badlav" (change) and coming out in large numbers to vote, National Conference and its candidates face a tough time.
But boycott calls in Srinagar have worked in the past and in 2008 just about 20 per cent of the voters came out while about 27 per cent voted in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. The BJP is eyeing a win in Amira Kadal which has a large migrant Kashmiri Pandit votes and is banking on the boycott call. In a bid to woo the Kashmiri Pandits, the BJP has given the ticket to Motilal Kaul from the neighbouring Habba Kadal.
At Amira Kadal the BJP candidate is Dr Hina Bhat. She is the daughter of National Conference leader Mohammad Shafi Bhat who represented Srinagar in the Lok Sabha and won from Amira Kadal Assembly seat twice. Hina Bhat had raised eyebrows within the BJP by stating that she is ready to pick up a gun if Article 370 is diluted or removed.
She faces National Conference Kashmir Valley chief Nasir Aslam Wani and PDP's Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari. Wani is not only facing tough questions related to floods but also about the 2010 stone pelting incidents in which over 120 boys many of them below the age of 10 were killed by security forces. Several hundred boys and men were also booked which has led to a lot of resentment across the Valley.
Hazratbal, Zadibal, Eidgah and Batamaloo are also yearning for change. Even thoughSrinagar has been a National Conference stronghold, in the recent Lok Sabha elections PDP MP Tariq Hameed Karra won Srinagar comfortably. Karra's win is the first time that the PDP emerged victorious in Srinagar in the Lok Sabha elections.
Of the eight seats of Srinagar, the PDP led in Eidgah, Zadibal, Hazratbal, Batamaloo and even Sonawar Assembly seats during the Lok Sabha elections. The National Conference was ahead in only Khanyar, Habba Kadal and Amira Kadal.
Voting will also take place in Hazratbal, Zadibal, Idgah, Khanyar, Habba Kadal, Amira Kadal, Sonawar, Batamaloo, Anantnag, Dooru, Kokernag, Shangus, Bijbehara, Pahalgam, Wachi, Shopian, Samba and Vijaypur in the fourth phase.
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