Land of poets and storytellers gets ready to turn over a new leaf

ANANTNAG: Often celebrated as the "Land of Poets", the air in Dooru seems thick with the echoes of classical Persian and Kashmiri verses. Among the poets and storytellers, Saadat Hasan Manto had roots in this pretty town cradled by the towering Pir Panjal range in south Kashmir's Anantnag district.

Dooru is currently drawing attention not for its rich literary history, but for politics, as J&K gears up for its first assembly polls in a decade. Among the ten candidates vying for Dooru assembly constituency is AICC general secretary Ghulam Ahmad Mir, the nominee of National Conference-Congress alliance.

Mir, a two-time legislator, faces competition from PDP's Mohammad Ashraf Malik and Independents backed by the banned Jamaat-e-Islami and Baramulla MP Engineer Rashid's Awami Ittehad Party. The entry of former separatists as Independents might shake things up for Mir, who is also a former J&K Congress president and minister.

The significance of the battle for Dooru can be gauged by the fact that Congress MP Rahul Gandhi kicked off his party's J&K election campaign here with a rally, while party president Mallikarjun Kharge announced five guarantees for the Union Territory if the alliance is elected to office.

Mir has focused his campaign on local issues, saying: "We had approved a cable car project here, but the PDP-BJP govt shifted it to Pahalgam."

NC and Congress have historically dominated the constituency, winning six of the seven assembly elections since 1977. Mir won in 2002 and 2008, while the seat went to PDP in 2014 when Syed Farooq Ahmad Andrabi, brother of party founder Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, defeated Mir.

In the 2023 delimitation process, Dooru saw an additional 40,000 voters added, bringing the total to 116,749. This expanded electorate could play a vital role in determining the poll outcome.

In this summer's LS polls, NC's Mian Altaf secured victory in the Anantnag-Rajouri constituency, which includes Dooru assembly segment. Altaf defeated PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, gaining nearly 30,000 votes compared to Mufti's 9,802 from Dooru.

Political analysts are optimistic, saying the NC-Congress combine stands a good chance in absence of prominent rivals. However, it remains to be seen whether the NC vote base will shift to Mir.

The constituency votes in first phase. What happens in Dooru will not stay in Dooru, but felt in distant Delhi.


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