The constituency of Lal Chowk is undoubtedly Bharatiya Janata Party’s best bet in Kashmir valley. It is one seat where the odds are stacked heavily in favour of BJP. This estimate gets further strengthened by the fact that the recently launched NC-Congress pre-poll alliance appears on thin ice after disagreements over seats.
Let us take a look at the newly drafted constituency of Lal Chowk. BJP is most likely to field Engineer Ajaz Balhami or Hina Shafi Bhat from this constituency. Both are young leaders who hold considerable sway in the birth burg boroughs. While Engineer Ajaz held a commanding lead from there in various municipal, assembly as well as parliamentary elections there the same can be said about Hina Bhat who was leading in the previous Amira Kadal assembly constituency even upto many rounds of counting. Hina Bhat has done considerable work in her area and has a water-tight voter base in the area. Now that both the areas are in one constituency it is a huge advantage to BJP.
Besides, the areas of Shivpora, Sonwar, and Buchwara has a good population of voters from the minority segment. Besides, the number of migrant voters from the minority community is also very strong in the areas of Shivpora, Dalgate, Rajbagh, and Wazir Bagh. The Sikh voters in Jawahar Nagar, Radio colony, and Ikhrajpora can be a Trump Card. Besides, the Shia localities in Dalgate and Abi Guzar Bund can also add another feather in Engineer Ajaz’s cap.
The National Conference, People’s Democratic Party, and Apni Party have not been able to put up a formidable candidate in this constituency and all the probable candidates from their area do not seem to have a strong voter base outside their blocks. BJP seems to have a voter base in every block, tehsil, and muhalla of Lal Chowk constituency either in person or through migrant votes. If the BJP is able to do a meticulous campaign and ensure migrant voters vote in good numbers it looks like a formidable player in Lal Chowk constituency.
It would be a close contest and will catch eye balls of media as BJP will try its level best to win Lal Chowk and send a strong signal to Congress.
