Gul likely to sail through Assembly election .. Sheikh Saleem Srinagar, Dec 12: In Srinagar’s Eidgah constituency, it seems National Conference candidate Mubarak Gul will not face much resistance on his way to assembly berth for the sixth consecutive time. In previous election of 2008, there was a triangular contest but this time it seems the constituency has a bi-lateral contest between NC and PDP. However experts say NC has an upper hand as PDP’s candidate Ali Muhammad Wani is not so popular in the constituency. In 2002, constituency witnessed only 2 percent polling while as the percentage jumped up to 22 percent in 2008 elections. Analysts believe that the high voter turnout this time may affect the NC’s fate as there is also resentment against the former speaker for ‘developing’ a particular area of the constituency. In 2008 elections, PDP had fielded Asifa Tariq-wife of senior leader Tariq Hameed Kara. However, this time the candidate seems to be less popular in the constituency which may benefit the National Conference candidate. This time PDP has fielded Ali Mohammad Wani from the constituency. Wani in 2008 fought independently and secured 1916 votes while PDPs Asifa Tariq grabbed 2778 votes. Wani’s own vote bank plus PDP vote bank is the benefit which PDP may get this time. However, presence of other candidates may cut the votes of PDP only. In the constituency, there are eight candidates in fray including three independent candidates and a People’s Conference candidate. According to the experts presence of other candidates will only benefit NC as the votes by other candidates will damage the PDP vote bank. The candidates belonging to Eidgah locality may help in bringing people out to vote and the trend of high percentage in first three phases may continue here also. Like previous elections, Mubarak Gul had a tough competition but this time it seems Gul will not face much resistance unless the voter turnout is very high than previous polls.
Posted on: Sat, 13 Dec 2014 14:48:18 +0000
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