September flood may ‘drown’ Wani in Amira Kadal

The high-profile Amira Kadal constituency here, which recorded 24 percent voter turnout Sunday, appeared to be tilted in favour of PDP candidate Altaf Bukhari given the anti-incumbency factor and mood of the voters here who are angry with the NC-led government’s failure in dealing with the devastating September floods. Once a stronghold of National Conference, which won seven elections from here out of 10 since 1957—besides winning by a narrow margin in 2008 elections—
the changed political equations post-floods seem to be working in favour of PDP in this election.
The tough contest between the PDP and NC candidate was visible on the ground as supporters of the two parties clashed with each other in and outside Rajbagh polling station.  Outside the booth set up in Girls Higher Secondary School, two groups of NC and PDP supporters—mostly women—fought with each other early in the morning as voting began amid heavy police and paramilitary force deployment. The women were shouting at each other, trading abuses, and charging each other of “accepting money” and trying to “influence” voters to vote for their party. Even policemen and CRPF personnel stationed outside the booth could not stop the fight which spilled on to the nearby street.
However, inside the booth, people went on to quietly cast their vote. “Local people helped us during the floods, but the government was absent,” said Revinder Kumar, a non-migrant Kashmiri Pandit who resides in government quarters in Rajbagh. Kumar had come out early in the morning to cast his vote along with his wife.
“Even Army initially helped only VIPs during the floods,” he said. “This time we have come out to vote for a change.”
In the polling booth 24 (B), set-up inside the higher secondary school in Rajbagh, out of 923 votes, 50 were polled till 9 am. In another polling booth, 70 votes were polled out of 922 till 9.15am, in the same school.
The Amira Kadal constituency has total electorate of 86,514 with 44,641 male voters and 41,873 female voters. Many areas of this constituency including Raj Bagh, Amira Kadal and Mehjoor Nagar were among the worst hit areas during the September floods. People complained of government failure to undertake immediate rescue and relief operations.
NC candidate for Amira Kadal, Nasir Aslam Wani, who was himself reportedly rescued during the floods as his house was submerged, is facing anti-incumbency.  On the other hand, senior PDP leader Altaf Bukhari, might reap political dividends from this factor.
Most of the people who had come out to vote in Jawahar Nagar said they were worst hit by the September floods and their houses were damaged. They expressed their anger against the coalition government which, they said, was found lacking in providing timely relief and rehabilitation to the flood affected people. “Almost 80 percent of population here was affected by the floods, and we have been left on our own,” said CK Raina, a resident of Jawahar Nagar who had come out early in the morning to vote for “change”.
“Many people were also displaced and they are living at other places and hence they cannot vote here; otherwise many people would have come out to vote,” said another local resident.
In the polling booth setup inside DAV school in Jawahar Nagar, 44 votes were polled out of total 1300 till 9.30 am.
Many people, including elderly men and women, had queued up outside polling booths setup in government middle school Mehjoor Nagar where rush of voters was on higher side as compared to other adjoining areas. Many waited in queue for their turn to vote since early morning.
Mehjoor Nagar was among the worst-hit areas in the September floods. “We were devastated by the floods and our houses were heavily damaged, but the ruling government didn’t care for us,” said Noora Begum, an elderly local resident who had come to vote, hoping for “better rehabilitation with the change in the government.”
“The government gave us cheques of Rs 3800 and some got Rs 12000 as compensation which is a joke since we suffered maximum in the floods,” she said. “We want a change in the government and hope the new government will look after our welfare.”
In city areas like Parraypora, Barzulla, Chanapora and Natipora, the polling appeared to be comparatively on the lower side. There were no queues outside polling booths although some people would trickle in once in a while to cast their vote. In polling booth 90(A), set-up inside Salfia Muslim Institute in Parraypora, 192 votes were cast out of 1580 till 1 pm. In another polling booth in the same school, only 37 votes were polled out of 648 till 1.15 pm.
In old Barzulla, amid heavy presence of police and CRPF personnel, the highly fortified polling booths were occasionally visited by voters.  171 votes were polled out of 1280 in one polling booth here, while in another 51 votes were polled out of 549 till 1.30 pm.
In Natipora, no queues were seen outside polling booths set up a short distance away from each other, but some voters did turn up to cast their vote. In a polling booth setup inside a primary school in Natipora, 104 votes were cast out of 780 till 2.15 pm. In another adjacent polling booth, 117 votes were polled out of 807 till 1.30pm and in another polling booth number 68 (A), 115 votes were polled out of 780.
Meanwhile in uptown, BJP candidate for Amira Kadal Hina Bhat slapped an on-duty Polling Officer in Methan Lal Nagar, where she entered into heated arguments with the polling staff, after which she was reportedly manhandled there by activists of National Conference.
Chief Minister and National Conference (NC) working president Omar Abdullah immediately took a dig at the BJP candidate on Twitter: “The BJP candidate in Srinagar who earlier threatened to pick up a gun over Art 370 now slaps a polling officer. Well done.”
Hina Bhat is banking on 4417 migrant and female voters in this constituency, besides loyalists of her politician father Muhammad Shafi Bhat who won the 2002 assembly elections on Congress ticket, defeating Ghulam Nabi Mir of NC.