The Anantnag-Rajouri parliamentary constituency in Jammu and Kashmir will be going on polls in the 6th phase of polls on Saturday.

Tight security arrangements have been put in place to ensure smooth and peaceful conduct of poll. The security personnel have been deployed within and outside the polling stations and the sensitive areas of across the constituency.

The security has been beefed up after militants carried out two back-to-back attacks in south Kashmir last week in which a former sarpanch associated with the BJP was shot dead and a tourist couple was wounded in a separate attack.

The Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha constituency was carved out by the delimitation commission after the delimitation exercise. In the erstwhile Anantnag LS seat, border districts of Poonch and Rajouri were included in the constituency while the Pulwama district and a single seat from Shopian were taken out from it.

The constituency was originally going to polls on May 7 but was deferred by the Election Commission of India at the request of BJP and other parties, to May 25.

Security personnel and polling staff have been stationed at their designated locations across the trans-Pir Panchal constituency spread over five districts - three in Kashmir and two in the Jammu region.

The constituency has 18 assembly segments — 11 in the Kashmir’s Anantnag, Kulgam and Shopian, districts and seven in Poonch and Rajouri districts across the Pir Panjal range.

The ECI has set up 2,338 polling stations across the Anantnag- Rajouri Parliamentary constituency.

While over 18.36 lakh voters will decide the fate of 20 candidates on May 25, the main contest is between Peoples Democratic Party’s president Mehbooba Mufti, NC’s Gujjar leader Mian Altaf and Apni Party’s Zaffar Manhas.

While the BJP has not fielded any candidate from the Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha seat, saying the party was in no hurry to see the lotus bloom in Kashmir, the party has given tacit support to Apni Party’s Manhas, who is a Pahari.

The BJP-led government gave Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to Paharis and three other communities earlier this year.

The ethnic Pahari form a major chunk of the total electorate in the Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha constituency. The constituency is also dominated by the Gujjar and Bakerwal Muslim communities and the NC is banking on this tribal community to vote for Mian Altaf who is an influential Gujjar leader and has spiritual influence on the tribal community across the Pin Panchal constituency.

Kashmiris are more than half of the population of the constituency while Paharis and Gujjars & Bakerwals, with nearly equal populations, contribute the rest.

South Kashmir used to be an erstwhile bastion of PDP and it is a high-stakes battle for the former chief minister Mufti who has gone all out to woo voters of all ethnicities.

The NC won the seat in 2009 and 2019, PDP emerged winner in 2004 and 2014.

In the last Lok Sabha election, the Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency recorded low voter turn of 9 per cent voting while the Rajouri-Poonch area, which was the part of Jammu Lok Sabha seat, recorded over 72 per cent voting. In 2104, the Anantnag Lok Sabha seat saw a turnout of 28 percent.

While the Srinagar and Baramulla Lok Sabha parliamentary constituencies witnessed record voter turnout, it remains to be seen whether Anantnag LS constituency will also witness a record voter turnout.

Meanwhile, Chief Electoral Officer P K Pole said all necessary arrangements, including comprehensive security protocols, have been made for the elections.
“We have made all the arrangements for the elections. The security has been readied in all the districts of the constituency, and we are expecting a good voter turnout in the region,” Pole said.