The dignified return and rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits in the Valley expectedly remained their key promise.
The Habbakadal Assembly segment, which had around 20,000 voters from the community, saw four Kashmiri Pandits in the fray this time. But even here, barring the BJP’s Ashok Kumar Bhat, who bagged 2,899 votes and stood second within the segment, the other three KP candidates bagged less than 500 votes in total. Sanjay Saraf, who contested on the Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party ticket, got 265 votes, while other two candidates Ashok Shaib and Nanaji Dembi secured 97 and 65 votes, respectively.
Thirteen candidates from the community contested the 2024 Assembly poll, while only eight had contested the 2014 poll. This election saw KP candidates trying their luck beyond the Habbakadal seat, but they performed poorly in South and North Kashmir districts.
In Shangus, Anantnag East seat, three candidates from the community contested the elections. Vir Ji Saraf, who contested on BJP ticket bagged 1,988 votes, Dilip Kumar Pandita, an Independent candidate got 249 votes, while Apni Party’s Maharaj Krishan Yogi stood six with 1,162 votes. In Central Kashmir’s Beerwah seat, Independent candidate Sanjay Parva bagged 927 votes.
In Anantnag, Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party’s candidate Sanjay Saraf received 161 votes. In Rajpora seat of Pulwama district, two candidates Daisy Raina from Republican Party of India (Athawale) bagged just 235 votes, while Nationalist Congress Party candidate Arun Kumar Raina bagged 177 votes.
Similar tale played out in North Kashmir, where two candidates contested from two seats in Baramulla district. In the Baramulla segment, Jammu & Kashmir All Alliance Democratic Party candidate Santosh Labroo bagged only 127 votes, while in Sopore, Independent candidate Arti Nehru could only manage to secure 471 votes.
Asked about reasons why he failed to perform well, Sanjay Saraf, who is a known face in the community, said it was difficult to say what went wrong in the elections. “I had not expected this result,” he told The Tribune.
However, he said people in Jammu voted in the favour of Article 370, while the Valley voters voted against the contentious Article.
“The National Conference created a wrong impression among people that after the abrogation of Article 370 and Article 35-A, now the land too will be taken. Consequently, people voted for the NC and all nationalist voices, including stalwarts, didn’t do well,” said Saraf.
