Atleast 14 candidates in J&K’s Assembly elections from the displaced Kashmiri Pandit (KP) community have filed their nomination papers in the Valley, where they have a sizeable presence.
The contestants aim to fight for the return and rehabilitation of members of their community roughly numbering around three lakh.
The presence of six KPs in the electoral race makes the contest for Srinagar’s Habba Kadal an interesting one.
This perhaps will be one of the toughest seats to win in the upcoming assembly polls.
It’s for the first time that six KP candidates out of 14 have filed their nomination papers for one single seat.
Elections will be held in the constituency in the second phase on September 25.
Of them, five have filed papers under the banners of recognised political parties, while two have filed as Independents. A total of 14 candidates have filed their nominations, an election department official told reporters.
Among the candidates is Ashok Kumar Bhat who is contesting on a BJP ticket.
Sanjay Saraf is the Lok Jan Shakti Party candidate and Santosh Labroo will be contesting the election as an All Alliance Democratic Party candidate.
Ashok Raina, Panaji Dembi, and Ashok Sahaib, will contest as independents.
The six KPs in the fray are banking on the support of the 25,000-strong migrant vote bank in Habba Kadal, traditionally a National Conference stronghold.
Raman Mattoo, a KP, who contested in 2002 as an independent, won and became a minister in the PDP government.
However, in 2014, four candidates contested the seat, while in 2008, saw a record 12 candidates out of a total of 11 nominations, and nine were displaced KPs.
BJP’s Vir Saraf, Apni Party’s MK Yogi, and Dileep Pandita, an Independent, will seek election from the Shangus-Anantnag segment.
In all, 13 candidates are in the fray from this segment.
Other candidates from the valley in the fray are Rakesh Handoo from the Zadibal constituency, Dr Sanjay Parva from the Beerwah constituency in Budgam, and Ramesh Wagnoo, an Independent, from Pampore.
Rosy Raina and Arun Raina are contesting as Republic Party of India and NCP candidates from Rajpora in the Pulwama district.
Ashok Kumar Kachroo, the sole KP from Jammu, is contesting the election from the Bhaderwah constituency as an All Alliance Democratic Party candidate.
Rosy Raina came to Kashmir five years ago and started working in South Kashmir after being elected sarpanch. She said, “I have worked hard for the past five years as a sarpanch. Because of my work, the youths are on my side. I am sure that I will win the election.”
According to reports, around three lakh Kashmiri Pandits are living in exile.
Although the policy for their return was designed earlier, no government in power has ever implemented that policy.
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