Jammu, April 13
The byelections for four Assembly seats in Jammu and Kashmir will be an acid test of the popularity of the separatists who have given a call for boycott of the poll.

The polling percentage, particularly in the three Assembly constituencies of the Kashmir valley, on April 24 would decide whether the separatists continue to enjoy support of the masses or not.

This is not for the first time that the separatists have given a poll boycott call. They had been asking people to boycott the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in the past too, but generally out of 14 districts in the state their voice was heard only in the districts of Srinagar, Anantnag and isolated pockets in Baramula.

Interestingly, the litmus test of the separatists comes just before the roundtable conference of the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, at Srinagar next month. Certain separatist leaders have also announced boycott of the meeting, while the Hurriyat Conference was yet to decide.

Over the years, the influence of separatists over the electorate has been diminishing as the latter have been turning out in greater number in each election, particularly after the Lok Sabha elections in 1989 when terrorism started in the state.

While the separatist hardly have any influence in the Bhaderwah constituency of Doda district where Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad is in direct contest with the BJP, their call for boycott of the poll has gone almost unheeded in the Pattan and Rafiabad segments in Baramula district of the valley. To some extent they have influence in the Sangrama constituency where a byelection is being held following assassination of the then Education Minister, Mr G.N. Lone.

With the people seeing a ray of hope for peace following the friendly relations between India and Pakistan, it is to be seen whether the electorate in the three Assembly constituencies ignore the boycott call or fall in line with the separatists who are demanding independence for Jammu and Kashmir.

It was only during the Lok Sabha elections in 1989 that the Pattan, Rafiabad and Sangrama Assembly segments also boycotted the poll and there was just a trickle of voters. The number of votes cast was Pattan 1, Sangrama 60 and Rafiabad 605. However, in the Lok Sabha election of 1996, these segments registered a polling percentage of 50.36, 51.28 and 49.06, respectively, by ignoring the boycott call of the separatists.

Kreeri (Sangrama), April 13
Even as the separatist groups have launched an anti-election campaign in Kashmir, mainstream political parties have geared up to attract the voters for the forthcoming byelections to three Assembly seats in Baramula district of north Kashmir. Sangrama, Pattan and Rafiabad constituencies go to the byelections on April 24, where the ruling coalition parties have fielded coalition candidates from the PDP, with the Congress remaining the main ally.

Sangrama constituency had fallen vacant due to the killing of the former minister and PDP leader Ghulam Nabi Lone at his official residence in Srinagar on October 18 last year. His son Shoaib Lone, having been denied ticket by the ruling PDP, is contesting as an Independent among seven candidates from this constituency. The National Conference (NC) has extended support to Mr Shoaib Lone on moral and political grounds as it had been the “responsibility of the PDP to support him”, according to NC leaders.

The PDP instead has fielded Mr Javed Hassan Beigh, a nephew of Deputy Chief Minister Muzaffar Hussain Beigh. There are two other contestants from the Panthers Party and RLD in addition to three other Independents.

An anti-election campaign had made its maiden appearance here recently, but the contesting mainstream political parties and the Independents have also launched their campaign to attract voters. There may not be many takers for the election boycott, opined a group of students here.

But the voters have been divided into three divergent groups, with Mr Shoaib Lone having an edge over other candidates. That is mainly for the sympathy he got over the killing of his father. With this the PDP vote bank has been divided between Mr Shoaib Lone and Mr Javed Hassan Beigh, the ruling coalition candidate of the PDP.

The PDP candidate has local support in his area, apart from other PDP leaders like Mr Basharat Bukhari, MLC from Kreeri.

Jammu, April 13
The state unit of the BJP has decided to send senior party leaders, including its prabhari, Mr Manohar Lal, to muster support for Mr Mohammad Maqbool War who is contesting from Rafiabad.

Mr War had polled 829 votes in the 2002 elections, constituting 2.5 per cent of the total votes polled.

The party president, Dr Nirmal Singh, said here today that “we will be sending senior party leaders to campaign for Mr War.”

He said the BJP had fielded its candidate in Rafiabad and Bhaderwah only. “we wanted to show that even Muslims in the valley are supporting the BJP,” he said. — OC