Election Phase 4: Exciting fights, contentious seats, key candidates in 9 states, 1 UT

With the first three phases of the Lok Sabha polls wrapping up voting process in more than half of the 543 parliamentary constituencies, polling is scheduled in 96 seats across nine states and one Union territory in the fourth phase on May 13.

While simultaneous Assembly and Lok Sabha polls will be held in Andhra Pradesh on the day in a single phase, Odisha will vote, both for Assembly and Lok Sabha, in the first of its four phases.

Telangana is also scheduled to vote in a single phase on May 13. The fourth phase will also mark the first of the four stages of voting in Jharkhand.

High-octane fights are anticipated in states like Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana where national leaders will try to protect their turfs or battle for supremacy.

The key candidates in the fourth phase are Akhilesh Yadav (Kannauj, SP), Mahua Moitra (Krishnanagar, TMC), Yusuf Pathan (Baharampur, TMC), Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury (Baharampur, Congress), Union minister Giriraj Singh (Begusarai, BJP), YS Sharmila (Kadapa, Congress), Union minister and former Jharkhand chief minister Arjun Munda (Khunti, BJP), Shatrughan Sinha (Asansol, TMC) and Telangana BJP state president Bandi Sanjay Kumar (Karimnagar).

Here’s a look at the contentious seats and battles:

ANDHRA PRADESH

Lok Sabha constituencies going to polls: All 25 [Araku (ST), Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, Anakapalli, Kakinada, Amalapuram (SC), Rajahmundry, Narasapuram, Eluru, Machilipatnam, Vijayawada, Guntur, Narasaraopet, Bapatla (SC), Ongole, Nandyal, Kurnool, Nellore, Tirupati (SC), Rajampet, Chittoor (SC), Hindupur, Anantapur, Kadapa]

Simultaneous polls will also be held in 175 assembly segments 

Pitched battles will be seen in the Lok Sabha constituencies of Kadapa, Srikakulam, Rajahmundry, Rajampet and Nellore where members of political families have been pitted against one another.

The Telugu Desam Party (TDP), BJP and Jana Sena have joined forces under the NDA to defeat Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.

All eyes will be on the slugfest in Kadapa, where Chief Minister Jagan’s sister and Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee president YS Sharmila will take on her cousin and sitting MP YS Avinash Reddy of the YSR Congress (YSRCP). With Sharmila determined to wrest the seat from YSRCP, the main poll narrative has revolved around the alleged murder of their uncle YS Vivekananda Reddy, a former MP, in which Vivek is a suspect.

TDP’s Pemmasani Chandrasekhar, who with an asset worth ₹5,785 crore, is the richest contestant in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, will face off against YSRCP’s K Venkata Rosaiah in Guntur constituency.

Incumbent MP Kinjarapu Rama Mohan Naidu is aiming for a hat-trick as the TDP candidate from Srikakulam. He is the son of former Union minister K Yerran Naidu, who was once the face of TDP in Delhi.

BJP state president and former chief minister NT Rama Rao’s daughter Daggubati Purandeshwari is trying her luck from Rajahmundry. This is the second election for her as a BJP candidate. She lost the 2019 polls from Rajampet.

A curious contest will also be seen in Rajampet where N Kiran Kumar Reddy, the last chief minister of united Andhra Pradesh, backed by the BJP, will lock horns with sitting YSRCP MP and P Mithun Reddy.

K Raju, a former IAS officer and political advisor to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is the party’s nominee from Nellore. Raju is pitted against YSRCP’s Rajya Sabha member B Vijaysai Reddy and TDP’s Vemireddy Prabhakar Reddy in a triangular contest.

Assembly polls

Even though the YSRCP, NDA and Congress are in the fray, the main fight will be between the ruling YSRCP and the NDA-led by N Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP.

Both Chief Minister Jagan and opposition leader Naidu are contesting from their pocket boroughs of Pulivendla and Kuppam constituencies respectively. A high-decibel contest will be seen in Kuppam where the YSRCP has been working hard to unseat Naidu. In 2019, Jagan’s party created a record of sorts by winning 151 of the 175 seats in the Assembly. But this time, it may find it difficult to retain the absolute majority in assembly due to tough contest from NDA.

An important aspect of the May 13 election is that one chief minister (Jagan), two former chief ministers (Naidu and Kiran Kumar Reddy) and family members of another three former chief ministers (NT Rama Rao, Kotla Vijayabhaskar Reddy, Nadendla Bhaskar Rao) are in the fight in various constituencies.

The Congress, which drew a blank in the past two elections, is also striving to prove its relevance in the state under the leadership of Sharmila.

The TDP which quit NDA before 2019 has joined hands with BJP along with the Jana Sena, in the same way in 2014 which saw Naidu romp to power.

TELANGANA

Constituencies going to polls: All 17 [Adilabad (ST), Peddapalli (SC), Karimnagar, Nizamabad, Zahirabad, Medak, Malkajgiri, Secunderabad, Hyderabad, Chevella, Mahbubnagar, Nalgonda, Nagarkurnool (SC), Bhongir, Warangal (SC), Mahbubabad (ST), Khammam]

All the 17 Lok Sabha seats are up for fierce three-cornered contest among the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BSR), the BJP and the Congress on May 13. The most interesting fights will be happen in Malkajgiri, Secunderabad, Karimnagar, Mahabubnagar, and Chevella.

A prestige battle awaits Malkajgiri, the country’s largest Lok Sabha constituency known for its diverse population, as the seat was held by Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and retaining it is crucial for the Congress.

The Congress has fielded Patnam Sunitha Mahender Reddy, a BRS turncoat from the seat while the BJP has re-nominated Etala Rajender. The BRS has put its weight behind Ragidi Laxma Reddy.

The urban constituency of Secunderabad is all set for a triangular contest with BJP candidate and Union tourism minister G Kishan Reddy defending his turf against BRS’ T Padma Rao Goud and Congress’ Danam Nagender. Even though the BJP, riding on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity is vying for a third term, a fall in its vote margin – from 2.54 lakh in 2014 to 62,000 in 2019 – is a cause of concern.

Karimnagar is an important constituency for the BJP as the saffron party wrested it from the BRS in 2019. Here, former BJP state president and sitting MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar is locked in a triangular contest with BRS veteran B Vinod Kumar who represented the seat twice earlier and Velichala Rajender Rao of Congress.

Chevella is set to witness a battle of ‘crorepatis’ with the BJP pitting Telangana’s richest candidate Konda Vishweshwar Reddy against Congress nominee and sitting MP Gaddam Ranjith Reddy.

Vishweshwar Reddy, the son-in-law of Apollo Hospitals founder Prathap C Reddy, has declared assets worth ₹4,500 crore while Ranjith Reddy, who won the elections last time on a BRS ticket has assets worth ₹435 crore. The BRS has fielded Kasani Gyaneshwar, the former head of Telangana TDP, from the seat.

ODISHA

Lok Sabha constituencies going to polls: 4 of 21 [Kalahandi, Koraput (ST), Nabarangpur (ST) and Berhampur]

Simultaneous polls will be held in the 28 assembly segments under the four Lok Sabha constituencies

A traditional stronghold of the Congress, the seat comprising seven assembly segments, remained with the BJD for 10 years beginning 2009 before being wrested by the former in 2019.

This time, it is crucial for the Congress to win Koraput, the only Lok Sabha seat it could win in 2019, if it doesn’t want to wiped out in the state.

The constituency is set for a three-pronged contest between incumbent Congress MP Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka, BJP’s Kaliram Majhi and BJD’s Kausalya Hikaka. The BJD has placed its bets once again on Hikaka, who had lost to Ulaka only by a thin margin of 3,613 votes last time.

It is being speculated that serious infighting in the Congress over distribution of tickets may split its votes, giving an edge to the BJD and the BJP. Several Congress leaders are reportedly miffed with Ulaka’s re-nomination and are unlikely to support him. In a further blow to the party, Abinash Gamang, the son of the president of the Koraput Zilla Congress Committee, has also filed nomination as an independent candidate.

The BJP, which was not a serious contender in the last polls, is said to have strengthened its position in the area through groundwork and repeated visits of Union ministers to community-specific programmes among others.

Kalahandi was one of the four western Odisha Lok Sabha seats that the BJP wrested from the BJD in the 2019 polls. The saffron party pulled a stupendous performance in 2019 when it not only increased its Lok Sabha tally from one to eight seats, but also emerged victorious in all the five western Odisha Lok Sabha seats – Kalahandi, Balangir, Sambalpur, Bargarh and Sundargarh.

This time, all the three parties have fielded fresh faces given the tendency of voters to elect a new leader in the past three consecutive polls.

The BJP has fielded Malavika Keshari Deo, a member of the royal family of Kalahandi against BJD’s Lambodar Nial and Congress’ Droupadi Majhi, a tribal leader. Members of the royal family have won Lok Sabha polls in the state nine times since 1952.

The Lok Sabha seats has seven assembly segments – Nuapada (BJD), Khariar (Congress), Lanjigarh (ST seat, BJD), Junagarh (BJD), Dharmgarh (BJD), Bhawanipatna (SC seat, BJP), Narla (BJD) –where simultaneous polls will be held on May 13.

During campaign rallies, political parties have been trying to take credit for the progress and prosperity seen in recent years in district, once notorious for its droughts and hunger deaths.

The tribal constituency of Nabarangpur is also set for a triangular contest between the BJD, BJP and the Congress. While the BJD has held the seat for two terms, the BJP, buoyed by its wins in the neighbouring districts, is striving hard to wrest it from the former.

The BJP has re-nominated Balabhadra Majhi against BJD’s Pradeep Majhi and Congress’ Bhujabal Majhi, a three-time MLA from Dabugam. Interestingly, Pradeep was the Congress MP from the seat in 2009, but lost the election in 2014 and 2019.

Resentment, however, is brewing among a section of party workers against the Congress’ denial to give a ticket to Sishir Gamang, son of former chief minister Giridhar Gamang.

The Lok Sabha seat has seven ST assembly segments – Umerkote, Jhariagram, Nabarangpur, Dabugam, Kotpad, Malkangiri, and Chitrakonda.

In the Berhampur Lok Sabha seat, the BJD has fielded Bhrugu Baxipatra while the BJP and the Congress have nominated Pradeep Kumar Panigrahy and Rashmi Ranjan Patnaik as their candidates respectively.

Baxipatra had contested the elections on a BJP ticket last time, losing the polls to BJD’s Chandra Sekhar Sahu. He was given a ticket last month, soon after he switched to the BJD.

A former minister and confidante of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Panigrahy joined the BJP after being expelled by the BJD for “anti-people activities”. He was also arrested and jailed for a brief period in a money laundering case.

The Lok Sabha seat has seven assembly segments – Chhatrapur (SC), Gopalpur, Brahmapur, Digapahandi, Chikiti, Mohana (ST) and Paralakhemundi.

While the BJD is banking on the populist policies of the government and the popularity of Patnaik to win the elections, the BJP has been harping on the “outsider” – a dig at the chief minister and his controversial aide VK Pandian – narrative to discredit the BJD government while promising benefits for women, farmers, and marginalised sections if it comes to power in the state.

During recent public meetings in Nabarangpur and Berhampur, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, made a slew of promises to voters – including a hike in MSP rate from ₹2100 to ₹3100 per quintal, bonus for Kendu leaf growers, Ayushman Bharat benefits to all above 70 years, direct transfers of benefits like housing funds, gas subsidies, MNREGA wages, and PM-KISAN scheme payments among others.

WEST BENGAL

Constituencies going to polls: 8 of 42 (Baharampur, Krishnanagar, Ranaghat, Bardhaman Purba, Bardhaman-Durgapur, Asansol, Bolpur, Birbhum)

Fates of a host of political heavyweights and celebrities will be decided in the fourth phase of polls in the state.

Trinamool Congress (TMC)’s firebrand leader Mahua Moitra is pitted against the BJP’s surprise choice ‘Rajmata’ Amrita Roy in Krishnanagar in Nadia district. The BJP is expecting to reap the benefits of Roy’s family’s relations with the erstwhile zamindar of Nadia, Krishnachandra Roy, who had immensely contributed to Bengali literature and culture, besides popularising Durga Puja.

In Baharampur, Congress’ state chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury is eyeing his sixth victory from the constituency, banking on his ‘Robinhood’ image and has the backing of the CPI(M)-led Left Front. His main challenger in the minority-dominated seat is former Indian cricketer Yusuf Pathan. BJP candidate Nirmal Kumar Saha, a popular local physician, is being considered the dark horse in the triangular contest.

Another political bigwig in the fray is former state BJP chief Dilip Ghosh, who will face off against TMC’s Kirti Azad, an important member of the 1983 Cricket World Cup winning squad of India, in Bardhaman-Durgapur constituency.

In neighbouring Asansol, cine star Shatrughan Sinha of the TMC will clash with veteran parliamentarian SS Ahluwalia in what is billed as a contest between a ‘Bihari Babu’ and a ‘Sardarji’ in a constituency dominated by non-Bengali voters.

Bengali film star Shatabdi Roy will seek her fourth straight term from the Birbhum constituency, which she has been representing since 2009. In this constituency, the BJP was forced to nominate its second choice Debtanu Bhattacharya after the candidature of its original nominee Debashis Dhar was cancelled. Dhar, a serving police officer, had quit his job to take the electoral plunge.

Issues ranging from the Citizenship Amendment Act, unemployment, closure of industries, corruption to price rise and Hindutva have dominated electioneering in these constituencies spread across five districts. Four of these eight seats went to the TMC in 2019. The BJP had won three while Congress secured victory in one.

BIHAR

Constituencies going to polls: 5 of 40 (Darbhanga, Ujiarpur, Samastipur, Begusarai, Munger)

The fourth phase of Lok Sabha polls in Bihar will determine the fate of two sitting Union ministers – Nityanand Rai and Giriraj Singh.

Rai, who is looking for a third term from the Ujiarpur constituency will face former minister and RJD leader Alok Kumar Mehta. Amid anti-incumbency wave against Rai, the BJP during its campaigns has tried to raise national issues among the voters. The RJD, on the other hand, has focused on local issues including job crisis, and price rise, to strike a chord with people at the grass-roots.

The contest against Rai is also crucial as he is considered close to Home Minister Amit Shah and was credited for the party’s win in all the 17 seats it contested in Bihar in 2019. Rai had won the polls from the Ujiarpur seat in 2019 by margin of 2.77 lakh votes.

Union minister Giriraj Singh, a Bhumihar, who has been fielded for a second time from Begusarai, known as the ‘Leningrad of the East’, will face former three-time CPI MLA Awadhesh Kumar Rai, who hails from the Yadav caste.

The contest is expected to be tough with Bhumihars accounting for three lakhs of the constituency’s 21 lakh voters and the Yadavs being a 2.5-lakh strong voter base.

During the 2019 elections, Singh won the seat against Kanhaiya Kumar with a margin of 4.22 lakh votes, the second highest winning margin in Bihar.

UTTAR PRADESH

Constituencies going to polls: 13 of 80 [Shahjahanpur, Kheri, Dharuhara, Sitapur, Hardoi, Misrikh, Unnao, Farrukhabad, Etawah, Kannauj, Kanpur, Akbarpur, Bahraich (SC)]

Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav is trying to regain lost ground in Uttar Pradesh and the path to revival is from Kannauj.

In his effort to return to Lok Sabha, Akhilesh is contesting from the Kannuaj seat which the SP had been winning since 1998 till it was wrested by the BJP in 2019.

The importance of the battle can be understood from the fact that the INDIA bloc is expected to hold a public meeting in Kannauj where former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh will together hold a public meeting to show a united face of the alliance.

The elections in Uttar Pradesh in the fourth phase will also witness Union minister Ajay Mishra Teni return to contest from Kheri constituency.

Teni’s son Ashish Mishra, has been accused of running his car over farmers protesting in Lakhimpur Teni in 2021. While four farmers and one journalist were killed, three members of Teni’s convoy were lynched by a mob that went irate after the incident.

JHARKHAND

Constituencies going to polls: 4 of 14 [Singhbhum (ST), Khunti (ST), Lohardaga(ST), Palamau (SC)]

The fourth phase of the Lok Sabha polls will mark the beginning of the first of the four phases of voting in Jharkhand.

The electoral contest is important for the BJP here as it won most of the seats in the state in 2019.

In the four reserved constituencies spread across 10 districts and 23 Assembly segments, the fight will be mainly between the BJP and INDIA bloc candidates.

The upcoming phase will see Union minister Arjun Munda, the face of election campaign in Jharkhand, crossing swords with Congress’ Kalicharan Munda, who lost the 2019 poll against the former by a narrow margin.

In Singhbhum, BJP’s Geeta Koda will fight Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)’s Joba Manjhi. Koda is the wife of former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda who has faced allegations of corruption.

MADHYA PRADESH

Constituencies going to polls: 8 of 29 (Dewas, Ujjain, Mandsour, Ratlam, Dhar, Indore, Khargone, Khandwa)

In this phase, when eight of Madhya Pradesh’s 29 seats vote to choose their Lok Sabha representatives, the major contest is between the Congress and the BJP, with the odds skewed heavily in favour of the saffron party. In all eight constituencies, the sitting MP is from the BJP, and six of them will fight to retain their seats.

Seven seats — Dewas, Ujjain, Mandsour, Ratlam, Dhar, Khargone, and Khandwa — are set to see a direct face-to-face contest between the Congress and the BJP. In Indore, though, Congress candidate Akshay Kanti Bam left the Grand Old Party high and dry when he withdrew his nomination on the last day allowed for such a move and joined the BJP.

Ejected from the contest, the Congress is appealing to voters to press the None Of The Above (NOTA) option. With the Congress out of the race, BJP’s sitting MP Shankar Lalwani looks set for a cakewalk with the other candidates in the fray being the BSP’s Sanjay Solanki and SUCI(C)’s Ajit Singh Panwar.

In Dewas, sitting BJP MP Mahendra Solanki will face Congress’s Rajendra Malviya. In Ujjain, the contest is between sitting BJP MP Anil Firojiya and Congress’s Mahesh Parmar. The Mandsour fight is between sitting BJP MP Sudhir Gupta with Congress’s Dillip Singh Gurjar. In Khargone, sitting BJP MP Gajendra Patel will face off with Congress’s Porlal Kharte. The Khandwa Lok Sabha seat will see a direct contest between sitting BJP MP Gyaneswar Patil and Congress’s Narendra Patel.

In Ratlam and Dhar, sitting BJP MPs Guman Singh Damor and Chattar Singh Darbar, respectively, have given way to Anita Singh Chauhan and Savitri Thakur, respectively. They will take on the Congress’s Kantilal Bhuria and Radheshyam Muvel respectively.

MAHARASHTRA

Constituencies going to polls: 11 of 48 (Nandurbhar, Jalgaon, Raver, Jalna, Aurangabad, Maval, Pune, Shirur, Ahmednagar, Shirdi, Beed)

Similar to Madhya Pradesh, the current odds are skewed in favour of the BJP-led MahaYuti alliance in the 11 Maharashtra seats that go to polls on May 13. In nine of those 11 seats, the sitting MP belongs to either the BJP (seven) or the Shiv Sena (then undivided).

Sealing the seat-sharing deals in Maharashtra has been difficult for both the MahaYuti and Maha Vikas Aghadi alliances. The former comprises the BJP, the Eknath Shinde faction of Shiv Sena, and the Ajit Pawar faction of NCP. The latter, on the other hand, includes the Congress, the Shiv Sena (UBT) led by Uddhav Thackeray, and the NCP(SP), that is, the Sharad Pawar faction of the party.

In the tribal-dominated Nandurbar seat, the sitting MP is the BJP’s Heena Vijaykumar Gavit, who will take on Adv Gowaal K Padavi of the Congress. Nandurbar has been in the news in the recent past because of dramatic reasons for the Congress. It was part of Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra and he addressed a rally there. On the very next day, however, Padmakar Valvi, a former Congress minister and well-known tribal leader from the district, officially joined the BJP.

In Jalgaon, where the sitting MP is the BJP’s Unmesh Patil, the contest will be between the saffron party’s Smita Wagh and Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Karan Balasaheb Patil-Pawar. In Raver, sitting BJP MP Raksha Khadse will take on NCP(SP)’s Shriram Patil, while in Jalna, Congress’s Kalyan Kale will face off against the BJP’s Raosaheb Danve.

The Aurangabad contest will be one to look out for, with sitting MP Syed Imtiaz Jaleel of the AIMIM looking for a second term as two-term former MP Chandrakant Khaire of the Shiv Sena (UBT) tries to snatch his former seat back. Khaire, who won the seat for the undivided Shiv Sena in 2009 and 2014, lost it to Jaleel by a mere 4,500 votes in a tight contest in 2019.

The other contestants in the fray in Aurangabad are Shiv Sena’s Sandipanrao Bhumre and Independent candidate Harshvardhan Jadhav.

In the other Marathwada seat of Beed, Pankaja Munde of the BJP is pitted against Bajrang Sonawane of the NCP(SP). Pankaja, a former state minister, is the elder sister of sitting BJP MP Pritam Gopinathrao Munde, who has been dropped by the party. The entire Marathwada region will be watched keenly because of Manoj Jarange-Patil’s agitation demanding Maratha reservation. To make up for the possible loss of Maratha votes, the BJP has chosen Pankaja, who has a following among the OBCs.

Maval are Shirdi are set for a Sena versus Sena battle. In the former, sitting MP Shrirang Barne of the Shiv Sena takes on former party colleague Sanjog Waghere Patil of the Shiv Sena (UBT). Similarly, Shirdi will have sitting MP Sadashiv Lokhande of the Shiv Sena facing off against Bhausaheb Rajaram Wakchaure of the Sena (UBT). The other candidates in the fray are Gangadhar Kadam (Independent) and Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi’s Utkarsha Rupwate.

In Pune, it’s a straight contest between the BJP’s Murlidhar Mohol and the Congress’s Ravindra Dhangekar. The sitting MP is the BJP’s Girish Bapat.

Shirur will be witness to an NCP versus NCP battle when sitting MP Amol Ramsing Kolhe of the Sharad Pawar faction takes on Shivajirao Adhalarao Patil of the Ajit Pawar faction. Independent candidate Adv. Swapnil Shelar may add a third angle to the fight.

In the cooperative-rich Ahmednagar, it’s a direct contest between incumbent Sujay Vikhe-Patil of the BJP and NCP(SP) candidate Nilesh Lanke, who emerged as a “Covid Warrior” by helping many people during the pandemic. For Vikhe-Patil, it is a fight to retain the supremacy of his family, which is considered the pioneers of the cooperative movement in Maharashtra. The OBC Bahujan Party’s Dilip Khedkar may cut some votes.

JAMMU AND KASHMIR

Constituency going to polls: 1 of 5 (Srinagar)

After polling in the Hindu-dominated Jammu and Udhampur constituencies of the Union Territory’s Jammu region in the first two phases of the Lok Sabha elections, and polling in the Anantnag-Rajouri constituency deferred to May 25, the Srinagar seat will be the first of three constituencies in the Kashmir Valley to go to polls.

Srinagar is Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (NC) chief Farooq Abdullah’s pocket borough and he is the sitting MP from the constituency. The seat has been largely with the NC since 1967. Since 1998, the seat has been either with Farooq Abdullah or his son Omar Abdullah, barring three years since the 2014 polls, when Tariq Hameed Karra of Mehbooba Mufti’s PDP wrested it from Farooq Abdullah. The latter grabbed it back in the 2017 bypolls.

This time, though, things are slightly different, with Agha Ruhullah Mehdi being the NC candidate. On paper, the Srinagar contest is triangular, with Apni Party’s Ashraf Mir also in the fray. But for all practical purposes, it is a battle between Mehdi and Waheed Ur Rehman Parra of the PDP. Both are young, educated, and assertive faces of the two major parties of the Union Territory.

Both are popular leaders but Parra, who was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) under “terrorism charges”, may garner sympathy votes. Mehdi, a former Cabinet minister and three-time former MLA, enjoys popularity across the ideological spectrum for his consistent narrative in favour of Articles 370 and 35A. Srinagar will be interesting to watch this time for sure.