Do-Or-Die Battle for Apni Party Chief in Channapora: High Power Tariff and Unemployment Key Issues
Do-or-die battle for Apni Party chief in Channapora
More than four years after former J&K minister Altaf Bukhari formed the Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party, Bukhari is facing a high-stake battle in Srinagar’s Channapora Assembly segment. The constituency, which has nearly 82,000 votes, will go to polls in the second phase on Wednesday.
Bukhari had formed the Apni Party in March 2020 with more than a dozen former legislators. The organisation was dubbed as a regional party with a national outlook. However, the party hasn’t been doing well electorally and is struggling to emerge as a political force in Jammu and Kashmir. In its first major test since formation, the party faced a drubbing with its candidates losing their security deposit.
As Bukhari faces a tough battle and the future of his party hangs in the balance, the Apni Party chief is campaigning aggressively ahead of the voting for second phase. To woo voters, Bukhari is visiting the constituency almost every day and holding door-to-door campaigns. “The traditional parties have looted the people of Kashmir. Cast your vote for change,” Bukhari appeals to voters.
A senior party leader, Muntazir Mohiuddin, says, “He (Bukhari) was an MLA from this area in 2014, and a lot of development took place because of him. He is urging people to vote for the Apni Party. People in large numbers so that problems that people are facing here can be resolved.”
In the last Assembly poll, Altaf Bukhari, who was then in PDP, had won the seat, by defeating NC candidate Nasir Aslam Wani.
However, the recent Lok Sabha elections were a different tale. In the Srinagar parliamentary seat, which was won by NC leader Syed Ruhullah, the NC got nearly 11,951 votes in the Channapora Assembly segment. Meanwhile, Apni Party candidate Mohammad Ashraf Mir secured 3,101 votes from Channapora, while PDP candidate Waheed Para got only 2,000 votes.
In the ongoing poll, eight candidates are contesting for the Channapora seat. Among these, Peoples Democratic Party’s Mohammed Iqbal Trumboo and National Conference’s Mushtaq Guroo and Bukhari are being considered as the top contenders.
Showkat Ahmad, who is contesting from the seat as an Independent, told that people were facing several issues such as rising electricity charges, poor healthcare services and high unemployment rates.
A former Congress leader, Ahmad recently left the party and is contesting the elections as an Independent candidate for the first time. “Whenever I interact with people on the ground, I see them facing a lot of problems that need to be resolved. It is up to them to decide who they should vote for. This is a democracy and they have to take the final call. My job is only to explain my manifesto,” he added.
Khalid Ahmad, a local resident of Channapora locality, told that voters would have several issues on their mind. “One of the main issues, which everyone is talking about, is the rising power tariff. We hope whoever is elected gets this issue resolved,” he added.
