Amir Tantray
Jammu, Sep 2: The bone of contention between alliance partners, National Conference (NC) and Congress party, the 52-Doda Assembly constituency is brewing up for a tight contest where the pendulum could swing to any side.
Apart from Congress and NC, Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP), Bharatiya Janta Party and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidates are also trying hard to stay in the fight.
A five-way contest on this seat is what people are looking for as every candidate is working hard to get the people on his side. This constituency is one of the largest constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir in terms of area and electorates and reaching to every panchayat of seven rural blocks is not possible in 16 days.
The constituency begins from Doda town towards south-east and ends up in Chilly Pingal area of Bhalessa. One has to travel more than 75 kilometers from one extreme to another and being in a hilly area commuting is difficult. Before delimitation of Assembly constituencies, Doda town was central place of this constituency with areas like Marmat, Dessa, Bhagwah and Jodhpur were its pat but now it has got a new shape and Thathri, Kahra, Jakyas and Chilly Pingal areas have been added to it. This constituency comprises seven rural blocks including Ghat, Dali-Udyanpur, Gundna, Thathri, Kahra, Jakyas and Chilly Pingal whereas two municipal committees Doda and Thathri are also part of it.
According to the official data revealed by Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Jammu and Kashmir, 98582 electorates including 50546 male, 48034 female and two third gender voters are eligible to vote in this elections, polling for which will be held on September 18, 2024 in the first phase of Assembly elections. At present nine candidates are in the fray which include six from different political parties and three independents.
In the 2014 Assembly elections the seat was captured by BJP leader Shakti Raj Parihar who defeated his nearest rival and the then Congress candidate Abdul Majid Wani whereas NC leaders Khalid Najeeb Suharwardy remained at the third position. Before that Wani remained MLA from this seat in 2002 and 2008.
Since 2018 after the fall of PDP-BJP coalition government followed by Governor’s rule and abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019, no political activity was taking part in this constituency and every leader remained in the oblivion. When elections for the District Development Council (DDC) were held in December 2020, Congress leader Sheikh Riaz Ahmed, whose wife won the election from Ghat constituency, started reaching out to people in every nook and corner of the constituency.
He developed good relationships with people on the ground and it was this relationship which forced the Congress party to go for a friendly contest with NC on this seat despite the fact that NC claimed they had got this seat in the pre-poll seat sharing formula.
NC’s Khalid Najib Suharwardy is a cleric who has held on Jamia Masjid of district headquarters Doda and has won bi-elections in 1997 after his father Maulana Ataullah Suharwardy’s death, who had won Assembly elections in 1996. He remained Minister of State (MoS) for home in Farooq Abdullah’s council of ministers but lost every election after that.
The DPAP candidate Abdul Majid Wani won his first election as an independent candidate in 2002 by defeating NC’s Suharwardy. He joined Congress party after that and even remained MoS in Mufti Muhammad Sayeed’s council of ministers during PDP-Congress coalition government. In 2008 he again won Doda seat and became part of Omar Abdullah’s cabinet but lost to BJP’s Shakti Parihar in 2014.
For the first time in the history of Doda Assembly constituency, BJP won this seat in 2014 during the Modi wave and he remained MoS in Mehbooba Mufti’s council of ministers for a few months before JP withdrew support to Mehbooba. Now, BJP has given mandate to Gajay Singh Rana after Parihar decided to contest from the newly carved Doda West constituency.
Another candidate Mehraj Malik of AAP, who is also DDC from Kahra, is gaining good momentum but it will be interesting to see how many votes he can fetch. He is the only candidate who strikes an emotional chord with people.
