 "In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Jammu and Kashmir recorded over 58 per cent voter turnout, the highest in 35 years. Political leaders in the Union Territory expect a relatively high voter turnout in the Assembly polls, too. (Photo: PTI)")
Full-scale campaigning is on in the seats reserved for the Scheduled Tribes (STs) in Poonch and Rajouri districts.
Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) has nine constituencies reserved for the STs. Among those six are in the Jammu region and three in Kashmir. On September 25, in the second phase of J&K’s Assembly elections, all the ST segments of Jammu are going to the polls.
In Poonch and Rajouri districts, there are eight Assembly constituencies, among which five are reserved for the STs.
On the stump are the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) brass such as Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, and Nitin Gadkari. For the Congress it is Rahul Gandhi and Sachin Pilot, and Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti are representing the National Conference and the Peoples Democratic Party, respectively.
“I’ve never seen this buzz and festivity during elections ever before,’’ Habib Bilal, 33-year-old research scholar in Poonch, told Business Standard.
In J&K, there are 90 seats, increased from 83 after delimitation. Six seats have been added to Jammu, which has 43, and Kashmir, with one addition, has 47. While the tribal Gujjars and Bakarwals had job reservation, the central government has given reservation to Paharis and other three castes, comprising upper-caste Hindus and Muslims, in March this year.
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“Under Narendra Modi’s government, our Pahari brothers have reservation now. We’ve delivered on our promise without touching the Gujjar reservation quota,” Union Home Minister Amit Shah said at a rally in Poonch on Saturday.
Last week the BJP’s top leaders addressed gatherings in reserved constituencies, highlighting reservation for the Paharis. The Assembly elections in 2014 saw the BJP emerging with 25 seats from the Jammu region and the PDP with 28, which included 25 in Kashmir and three in Poonch and Rajouri districts of Jammu.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP didn’t contest in Kashmir and backed the Altaf Bukhari-led Apni Party candidates. But, it couldn’t win any, not even in the remapped Anantnag-Rajouri constituency.
“This was because we didn’t field party candidates. Now that the BJP’s candidates are in the fray, we’re hopeful to win big in ST constituencies. We’ve done justice in reservation,” Ravinder Raina, BJP president of J&K and candidate for Nowshehra in Rajouri district, told Business Standard.
But, the granting of reservation has other issues. “The anti-minority mindset is against what I’ll vote for. There have been targeted anti-encroachment drives,” Aquib Wani, a practising lawyer at the principal district and sessions judge court, Rajouri, told Business Standard.
In early 2023, massive anti-encroachment drives were done in J&K, especially in the Jammu region, with several Gujjar habitations coming under the bulldozer.
“Due to the reservation, Gujjars and Bakerwals take different roads. If the former vote for some party, the latter will go the other way,’’ Bilal added.
Of the six ST seats in the Jammu region, the National Conference and Congress are fighting in three each.
Since last Friday, National Conference Vice-President Omar Abdullah has addressed six big rallies in Rajouri and Poonch. Mian Altaf Ahmed, the party’s MP from the Anantnag-Rajouri constituency, who wields spiritual influence among the Gujjars and Bakarwals, has been wooing the voters.
Pilot addressed three rallies on September 19.
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