The valley is witnessing an election fervour, possibly the first of its kind in more than three decades, PDP, one of the major players here is however, counting its days. While the party has lost most of its top leadership post scrapping of the article 370, party president Mehbooba Mufti is not contesting and as it seems on ground it is up for a contest in seats numbering in single digits.
Engineer Rashid and his AIP has emerged as one of the major players in this election. He has the capability of denting the vote count of PDP and NC but the effect on PDP’s vote share could be more significant. The MP has attracted some of the major faces of the PDP and made the contest at least a three-way in most of the seats and in South Kashmir this is more at the cost of the PDP than NC. NC’s foothold is much wider while PDP is more a South Kashmir party.
The entry of Jamaat has further complicated the equation for the PDP. Jamaat played a significant role in PDP’s coming to power on both the occasions. Now when the Jamaat has fielded its own candidates the first player to lose the vote share has to be PDP.
Besides the PDP’s reign is more recent and still fresh in the mind of voters than NC’s and the President by fielding her daughter from the Bijbehara constituency has only strengthened the dynast label for herself and her daughter.
While it is a matter of speculation whether Engineer Rashid and Jamaat are just a local force or the pawns in a game played by the Delhi, what is clear is that the PDP has too many holes to plug to prevent its boat from sinking.
After the death of its founder Mufti Mohd Syed the Party has run out of the glue to hold its leader and cadre in place. Perhaps the party founded in the midst of peak militancy is breathing its last with it.
