Owais Gul
Srinagar, Sep 16 : Out of the eight assembly constituencies in Srinagar district, there is a stronghold of National Conference (NC) i.e. Khanyar segment where the party’s candidate, Ali Muhammad Sagar has never lost elections against anyone since 1996.
Sagar, who is among the 10 candidates in the electoral fray this time, has won the elections four times in a row. He was first elected as the Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) in 1996 elections.
While the seat is set to go to the polls on September 25, in the second phase of assembly elections, a total of 91226 electorates are scheduled to cast their ballots in favour of their favourite representatives. The electorates include 45407 males and 45816 females, besides three Transgender.
According to the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), the prominent candidates out of the 10 vying for the seat include Ali Muhammad Sagar and former Deputy Mayor Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) Sheikh Imran, who is contesting as an independent candidate.
The other candidates in the battlefield include Peoples Democratic Party’s Tafazul Mushtaq, Apni Party’s Bilal Ahmad Mir, Farooq Ahmad of National Panthers Party (BHIM), five other independent candidates.
A total of six independent candidates are vying for the seat in the phase-II.
However, the question remains whether the four-time MLA, Ali Muhammad Sagar will be defeated in the upcoming assembly elections or will he continue to retain the seat for the fifth time in a row.
Sagar first won the elections in 1996. He later retained the seat in three consecutive assembly polls in 2002, 2008 and 2014.
In the previous 2014 assembly elections, Sagar had managed to secure 6505 votes and defeated his nearest rival by a margin of 1,167 votes.
Political analysts believe that it would be difficult for the candidates in the fray to defeat the four-time MLA from the constituency since has worked for his people and also gained a huge faith amongst the people within the constituency.
“There seems to be no strong contender against him this time. It seems a cakewalk for NC candidate to retain the seat,” the political analysts believe—(KNO)
