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| Mehbooba set to pay heavy price for ignoring PDP workers, obliging Pak stooges | | Separatists, their activists ditched her; party chief stares at first defeat in her political career | | Early Times Report
Jammu, May 8: The dismal voter turnout of just 8.70% in south Kashmir's Anantnag parliamentary constituency is a "big defeat" for the Kashmir centric parties, especially Peoples Democratic Party.
An analyst while talking to Early Times said that people not coming out to vote in south Kashmir is a big embarrassment for the PDP president, Mehbooba Mufti, who is contesting her seventh election from there. "It seems Mehbooba is staring at first defeat in her political career. Prior to these polls she had won all the six elections from south Kashmir," he added.
A Kashmir watcher said that in 2017 the PDP succeeded in "sabotaging" the by-polls in Anantnag parliamentary constituency.
The by-polls in Anantnag parliamentary constituency were necessitated after Mehbooba Mufti was installed as the J&K's Chief Minister following the death of her father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed in 2016. In the same year by-polls for Srinagar parliamentary constituency were held but the voting was marred by violence as eight persons were killed on the polling day in Srinagar. The then PDP candidate, Tasaduq Mufti, brother of Mehbooba Mufti, addressed a news conference just few days before the polling was slated to be held in Anantnag constituency and expressed his inability to contest the polls citing the violence in Srinagar constituency as the main reason. "The PDP in 2017 itself had gauged that it has lost its base in south Kashmir and to save itself from the embarrassment it cited security reasons to somehow get the polls deferred and finally got them called off indefinitely," the Kashmir watcher said.
A politician said that the low polling percentage in south Kashmir is direct consequence of the "wrong policies" of the PDP and its president, Mehbooba Mufti. "When Mehbooba was the Chief Minister of the state, she ignored her own party workers and gave preference to the Jamaat activists. She left no chance to oblige the separatists by treating their recommendations as her top priority. It seems she was under the illusion that by obliging separatists she is strengthening her vote bank. However, the low voter turnout in Anantnag parliamentary constituency has proved her wrong as her so-called supporters ditched her," he added.
Another analyst said that the PDP has got a chequered history. "Party since its inception has thrived on separatist narrative. After coming into power in 2015, the PDP in an attempt to appease the Pakistani stooges in the Valley set free Masrat Alam, the man who orchestrated 2010 protests. It was only after the reprimand from the Ministry of Home Affairs he was rearrested. Anantnag witnessing just 8 percent polling has vindicated the stand of the nationalist people, who from day one have been stating that PDP cannot be trusted and it's the party with the hidden agenda," he added. |
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