Subdued campaign
The action seems missing in the state of Jammu and Kashmir even though candidates for all the six Parliamentary seats have almost been declared or have been shortlisted by all the major political parties.
Voting to elect the 17th LokSabha will be held over seven phases from April 11 to May 19 and the counting of votes will take place on May 23. Jammu and Kashmir has six LokSabha seats.
Except the party offices of the BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP), the Congress, the National Conference, the Peoples Democratic Party and the Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP), which are bustling with activists, not much campaigning is going on in the state.
In Kashmir valley, the poll campaign has been subdued mainly to the reasons that the valley is witnessing violence on almost daily basis now. Everyday encounters, protests and killings are being reported with peripheries across the valley being on the edge.
Though political leaders are saying that they are currently giving final touches to their digital campaigns, posters, banners, schedule of star speakers, dates of poll rallies and door-to-door campaigns, the actions is seen missing on ground.
Most of the parties, including national outfits the BJP, the BahujanSamaj Party and the Congress, and regional ones, the PDP, the NC and the JKNPP have almost announced the names of the contestants, however, the poll campaign has not kick started yet.
The Congress and former ally National Conference (NC) have reached out an agreement on seat sharing in Srinagar and friendly contests elsewhere to keep the right wing BJP from seeking its grip back on the twin seats of Jammu division and the Leh parliamentary seat.
The PDP too has played its part by not contesting the twin seats in Jammu division. The announcement by the party has made the contest all the more difficult for the BJP as it will have to face a united alliance on these two seats.
However, one worry that will spoil the efforts of the regional political parties may be the cross LoC shelling in border areas that can keep the voters at bay. In Rajouri and Poonch, continuous shelling has given way to fear psychosis among the lakhs of the people living in these villages along the LoC.
The political outfits are on guard before campaigning in Sundcerbani, Nowshera, Manjakote, Balakote, Bhimbhergali, Krishnagati, Mendhar, Poonch sectors.
In the 2014 LokSabha elections, the BJP swept all three seats in the Ladakh and Jammu regions (Jammu-Poonch, Udhampur-Doda and Ladakh), while the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won the three seats in the Kashmir Valley.
However, in 2016, PDP leader, Tariq Hamid Karra had resigned from the party as well as the LokSabha and later joined the Congress while another PDP MP from Anantnag, Mehbooba Mufti, the party president had quit her Parliamentary seat after being elected as the Chief Minister in July 2016.
NC president Farooq Abdullah was elected as LokSabha member from Srinagar in the by-poll in April 2017 while by-election to Anantnag seat was suspended and could not be held since then.
KV Network
