JOIN USMians hope to repeat history in Kangan
Till a few years ago, Kangan in central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district was one of the few constituencies in the state where political pundits were spared the job of making poll predictions.
Success here was assured to any party which had the support of Mian clan, the prominent Gujjar family in the area that has a sizeable population of Gujjars. Here, electoral politics was dictated by tribal loyalties rather than party politics. The Mians had remained undefeated since 1957.
From Mian Nizamudin to Mian Bashir Ahmad to incumbent and third generation scion Mian Altaf Ahmad, the winners always had a cakewalk during the polls. Kashmiri and Gujjar voters form 65 and 35 per cent of the electorate respectively. The Gujjars regard the Mians as their religious and political leaders.
But the 2014 Lok Sabha elections threw the first surprise as the opposition PDP took a lead of 3,607 votes in the Assembly segment. Official records reveal that of the 97 polling booths, the PDP managed a lead in 63 during the Lok Sabha polls in April-May this year.
Feeling the heat, Altaf, a cabinet minister in the outgoing National Conference government, is canvassing vigorously to secure support of his traditional vote bank.
He has been visiting tribal heads and negotiating ways to bring disgruntled Gujjar youths back to his fold. According to unofficial estimates, around 2,300 Gujjar voters had ditched the NC during the Lok Sabha polls. Altaf banks on about 24,000 Gujjar and allied votes in the constituency and any division in the vote bank on November 25 would certainly endanger Mian family’s legacy.
Altaf feels the development works he carried out in the constituency in the last 18 years won’t go unnoticed. “The situation during parliamentary elections was different. But this time, I am sure people will vote in huge numbers in favour of National Conference keeping in view the development works we did in the last six years,” Altaf told Deccan Herald.
The PDP banks on Bashir Ahmad Mir, 38, president of Baltal Traders Union. Congress candidate Sheikh Ajaz, a former militant, would be adding to the troubles of the PDP by dividing his vote bank. Kangan has a total electorate of 69,408 and that is 11,000 more than the 2008 figure.
Barring the main town where the pro-independence sentiment is strong, the boycott call by separatists will not impact the polling here. Even at the peak of militancy in 1996 and 2002 elections, Kangan recorded a decent polling percentage.