BJP rivals say deferred voting in Anantnag-Rajouri is akin to 'rigged' 1987 election

The Election Commission’s (EC) recent decision to defer polling in the Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha seat in north Kashmir has revived memories of the alleged rigging of the 1987 Assembly elections for the region's major political parties – the People's Democratic Party (PDP) and the People's Conference (PC) – that believe the 'rigging' triggered the state's separatist campaign.

The two dominant parties in the Kashmir Valley, the PDP and the National Conference (NC), are now up in arms against the EC's move, which they say is aimed only at pleasing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its small allies which made the demand in the first place.

(It may be noted the insurgency movement, in fact, took root much before the 1987 election. Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah spearheaded the Plebiscite Front movement from prison while Afzal Beg, Abdullah's close confidant, was a major cog in the 'Rai Shumari' movement from 1953 to 1975. In the mid-1970s, Al Fatah emerged as a guerilla outfit comprising many youngsters who set up 'safe houses' and clandestinely received arms training. Ghulam Rasool Zehgeer, a well-known Plebiscite Front or 'Mahaz-e-Rai Shumari' activist, hailed from Srinagar. Later, the now-proscribed Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front's (JKLF) co-founder Mohammad Maqbool Bhat was actively running a pro-independence movement. Bhat was hanged in Delhi's Tihar Jail on February 11, 1984, a good three years before the 1987 elections.)

Anantnag-Rajouri was to vote on May 7 under Phase III of polling. It will now vote on May 25, under Phase VI.

Disenfranchising voters?

On April 30, the EC announced the postponement of elections on the Anantnag-Rajouri parliamentary constituency after multiple representations from political groups, including the BJP, the Apni Party (AP), and the People’s Conference (PC). The BJP has not fielded any candidate from the constituency. Neither has it fielded any candidates from the other two Kashmir Valley-based seats, Srinagar (central Kashmir) and Baramulla (north Kashmir).

The National Conference (NC) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) say the postponement, citing inclement weather and poor road conditions, has been done to disenfranchise the nomadic Gujjars and Pahari communities of Rajouri and Poonch areas in Pir Panjal, which form part of the constituency.

The NC sees a BJP conspiracy in the deferment of elections while the PDP accuses the EC of being a tool of the saffron party. The latter says the postponement could lead to manipulation and bureaucratic interference to exploit caste and ethnic fault lines in the Kashmir Valley. The BJP is seeking to coerce the Pahari community in the region to cast votes in favour of the Apni Party, an ally of the saffron party, it says.

Naeem Akhtar's allegation

Senior PDP leader and former cabinet minister in the BJP-PDP coalition government Naeem Akhtar, in Srinagar, launched himself into a diatribe against the Narendra Modi government, questioning its locus standi.

Visibly resentful, Akhtar accused the EC of acting as the BJP’s 'extension arm'. He was flanked by party sympathisers carrying placards reading “Bhaagi Janata Party” ("Fleeing Janata party").

“We see (the) Election Commission of India becoming a tool of the BJP. It has already given evidence to this effect throughout the country,” Akhtar said, alleging that the EC’s decision was akin to “pre-poll rigging” and reminiscent of the 1987 elections.

Even children are aware of the weather conditions in May along the 100-km Mughal Road that connects south Kashmir’s Shopian to Bafliaz in Poonch, he said. Hence, a sudden change of plan citing weather did not make sense, he added.

What happened in 1987

In March 1987, Assembly elections were held for the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. The Muslim United Front (MUF) or Muslim Muttahida Mahaz, an alliance of like-minded socio-religious and political parties, challenged the National Conference and the Congress party. Popular belief was that the MUF candidates were winning a good number of assembly seats in the then 76-member Assembly but the results were shockingly in favour of the NC-Congress alliance, which won 66 seats.

Yasin Malik, the JKLF chief who is currently lodged in Tihar Jail, was then a polling agent of Mohammad Yusuf Shah alias Syed Salahuddin, who is presently heading the proscribed militant group Hizbul Mujahideen.

NC leader Farooq Abdullah was reappointed as the Chief Minister after the alliance received just 53 per cent of the total votes but garnered 87 per cent of the seats. The disparity between the popular vote and the seats won led to the belief that the election was rigged.

The election results, according to political parties like the PDP led by Mehbooba Mufti and the People's Conference led by Sajad Lone, triggered the anti-state armed struggle in Jammu and Kashmir that is yet to abate.

Now, the BJP's detractors say the 2022 delimitation exercise in the state, and the postponement of polling in Anantnag-Rajouri, are reminiscent of the incidents of 1987.

Delimitation grouses

The NC and PDP are questioning the wisdom of the 2022 delimitation exercise that gave birth to the Anantnag-Rajouri constituency. Poonch and Rajouri districts of Jammu division were added to the existing Anantnag constituency, which then comprised four districts in south Kashmir.

“The newly carved out Anantnag-Rajouri seat is spread across two vastly different regions. It is a geographical oddity and an act of sabotage to create further fault lines in Kashmir based on caste, religion, and community,” said Akhtar.

Post-delimitation, the Anantnag-Rajouri constituency has 18 Assembly segments – 11 belonging to south Kashmir besides seven to Rajouri and Poonch areas.

The newly formed parliamentary constituency comprises the Assembly seats of Anantnag, Anantnag West, Anantnag East (Shangus), Devsar, DH Pora, Dooru, Kokernag, Kulgam, Srigufwara-Bijbehara, Zainapora and Pahalgam in south Kashmir. On the other side of the difficult terrain in the Pir Panjal range, it has Budhal, Nowshera, Poonch Haveli, Surankote, Mendhar, Thannamandi, and Rajouri Assembly segments.

BJP's non-contest

NC and PDP leaders underline that although the BJP was one of the parties that demanded that the polling should be delayed, it is not even contesting in Anantnag-Rajouri. Indeed, there are no BJP candidates in Srinagar (central Kashmir) and Baramulla (north Kashmir), too.

Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and NC leader Omar Abdullah blamed the BJP for the polling adjournment. The saffron party feared defeat in Jammu & Kashmir, he said, adding that its allies will be wiped out in Kashmir on whichever day the voting takes place.

The BJP allies in the Union Territory are the Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP), the Apni Party (AP) and the People’s Conference (PC) led by former chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, Altaf Bukhari and Sajad Lone respectively.

Farooq’s charge

Farooq Abdullah said the voters of Anantnag and Rajouri will give a befitting reply to those “hatching a conspiracy” to deprive the Gujjar-Bakarwal population from exercising their franchise.

Abdullah claimed that the BJP has already 'lost' the Udhampur and Jammu parliamentary seats and, therefore, was in a “panic mode” due to fears that it would lose the other seats too in Jammu and Kashmir.

“They can go to any extent to grab power,” he said, referring to the BJP. “They will create divisions between communities to achieve their ends. The BJP is leaving no stone unturned to grab power by playing a communal card. But people are determined to give them a befitting reply.”