NEW DELHI: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Monday sought a detailed report from Jammu and Kashmir administration, Chief Electoral Officer P K Pole, Chief Engineer and Deputy Commissioner, Poonch about the traffic worthiness of Mughal Road, which connects Anantnag and Rajouri-Poonch districts through Pir Panjal mountain range.
A communication in this regard was sent by Vibhor Agrawal, joint secretary of the ECI, to Chief Secretary and CEO, J&K along with representations received from half a dozen persons including three contesting candidates seeking rescheduling of the election, which is slated to go to polls in the third phase of current parliamentary elections on May 7, 2024.
The demand for rescheduling of polls has been made on grounds that campaigning in the segment was difficult as Mughal Road is blocked due to heavy snowfall till the end of April.
Two major contenders from J&K Peoples’ Democratic Party Mehbooba Mufti and J&K National Conference Mian Altaf Ahmed have not sought rescheduling of the polls in this constituency. This constituency is set to be a direct contest between NC and PDP with others having influence in few pockets.
Both of them and their party cadres are actively engaged in campaigning in South Kashmir areas and Poonch-Rajouri belt of the parliamentary constituency for the upcoming elections.
The ECI has also sought a detailed daily report about traffic movement from the Chief Engineer, Mechanical, charged with the responsibility of maintaining traffic worthiness of the Mughal Road and Deputy Commission, Poonch, under whose jurisdiction most of the Pir Panjal mountain range falls, since April 1, 2024.
The letters of Syed Mohammed Altaf Bukhari, President of J&K Apni Party, Ravinder Raina, President, J&K Bhartiya Janta Party and Imran Reza Ansari, Senior General Secretary/Treasurer, J&K Peoples’ Conference, were sent to the ECI on April 8, 2024, four days before the election notification was issued Anantnag-Rajouri parliamentary constituency.
Three other letters from the contesting candidates of J&K Apni Party Zafar Iqbal Manhas, Democratic Progressive Azad Party Mohammad Saleem Paray, independent candidate Arsheed Ahmed Lone were sent on April 23, 2024.
The first three letters from the political parties carry the same date of April 8, 2024. Whether it is a coincidence or not could not be ascertained. Three other letters also appear to have been sent on the same date and the ECI took more than 17 days on to seek a detailed report from J&K administration on the condition of the road.
J&K Apni Party, BJP and J&K Peoples’ Conference have cited difficulties in campaigning process in the two regions across the Pir Panjal mountain range due to blockade of the road, which usually happens between November and April end due to heavy snowfall.
They sought rescheduling of the polls instead of May 7, 2024, stating that the contesting candidates would not be in a position to carry out their election campaign because of road blockade during winter months.
Anantnag-Rajouri parliamentary constituency was carved out in the limited and special delimitation of Lok Sabha and assembly segments in J&K in 2022 after the abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution.
The twin border districts of Rajouri and Poonch were hived off from the erstwhile Jammu-Poonch constituency and clubbed with Anantnag despite objections raised by several political parties on several grounds including lack of cultural, linguistic and geographical congruity between the two regions that lie in two different provinces.
A major objection to the creation of this constituency was that the two areas are disconnected for at least five months with the closure of Mughal Road – the sole land connection – due to heavy snowfall.
Interestingly, while the border districts of Poonch-Rajouri were added to Anantnag, some of the areas of South Kashmir including Shopian, which is closest to the Poonch district via the Mughal Road, was shifted to the Central Kashmir segment of Srinagar.
The Kashmir-based political parties had also raised objections to the creation of this constituency because they saw it as a dilution of Kashmiri homogeneity. It was speculated that the BJP had its eye on this seat. The BJP was hoping to benefit from the recast constituency.
After granting Scheduled Tribe (ST) status early this year to Pahari and other communities, which have a majority in Poonch and Rajouri districts, the BJP was looking forward to electorally benefit from them in the Lok Sabha elections. Since Gujjar and Bakerwal communities dominate these areas, the BJP was fearing retribution from them in the polls.
Finally, the BJP could not find any suitable candidate for the newly carved out Lok Sabha seat of J&K and opted out of the race.
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