Nagrota, Budgam Bypolls: A Test Of Omar Abdullah’s Leadership In Kashmir

The concrete path outside a polling station in the Huroo area of Budgam lay in a broken state; the electricity lines had been tied to shards of bricks to prevent them from falling down from the cement poles. The government school in which the polling station was set up consisted of only a few rooms. The voters were coming to cast their ballots one by one.  At a distance of over one mile, people had stepped out of their homes in the chilly morning to line up in queues to cast their vote at the community hall in the main town of Budgam.

According to several voters, they cast the ballot for change to defeat the ruling NC candidate in Budgam assembly constituency, while others reposed their faith in the party and blamed the BJP for barring the chief minister Omar Abdullah-led government from delivering on its electoral promises, with most of the powers being retained by the Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha.

The by-elections on the Budgam assembly constituency in Kashmir, along with Nagrota in Jammu, were held today.  The polls on the Budgam seat are being held after Chief Minister Omar Abdullah stepped down last year to retain his Ganderbal seat in Kashmir, while elections took place in the Nagrota seat after the demise of BJP MLA Devender Singh Rana, whose daughter, Devyani Rana, is fighting the polls this time.

These elections are also seen as a test for the Omar Abdullah government’s performance in Jammu and Kashmir, which has completed one year in office since the elections were held here last year.  

On the Budgam seat, the main contest is expected between the NC’s Aga Syed Mehmood, the PDP’s Aga Muntazir Mehdi, the Awami Iteehad Party’s (AIP) Nazir Ahmad Khan, and independent candidate Muntazir Mohi-ud-Din. Seventeen candidates are in the electoral fray for the seat.  In Nagrota, the contest mainly pits the BJP’s Devyani Rana, NC’s Shamim Begum, Harsh Dev Singh of the Panthers Party (India), and BJP rebel independent Anil Sharma against each other. Ten candidates are fighting for the seat.

Owais Mohammad, 30, states that the Budgam assembly constituency lags behind in development compared to other areas of Kashmir. 

“Even a slight rainfall forces people to consume muddy water, which is supplied by the authorities across the district. Our roads are in a bad shape, and we get only a few hours of electricity during the day,” he says. “ We are voting for change. For fifty years, the constituency has not seen any development.”

Mohammad Ashraf, 43, says that they have been fed up with the political promises made by the NC, such as the restoration of autonomy, statehood, and Article 370, as these pledges were not kept. 

“We have voted for the candidate who we believe will ensure the development in the constituency. We don’t have a public park here; we don’t have a separate facility for women’s higher education.”

While the polling was brisk in Nagrota assembly constituency, which registered a turnout of over 50 per cent by late afternoon, it was nearly 35 per cent in Budgam. Earlier, several leaders of political parties campaigned on behalf of their candidates in both constituencies.

During the campaign for the Budgam by-elections, Farooq Ahmad Shah urged voters to support the ruling party, promising improved infrastructure if their candidate were to win. Omar Abdullah and other ministers also campaigned actively, with both NC and PDP emphasising development and accusing each other of ties to the BJP.

Farooq Shah says that, given the participation of people in their election rallies, the NC has a clear edge over the other parties and is comfortably placed to win the polls.  

“Omar sahib won the elections last year by a heavy margin of votes. We are hopeful that we will win the elections this time as well. Our party has pledged to ensure that the Budgam constituency, which has lagged on the developmental front, is not left behind. We have promised a Law University and will set up a stadium there,” he says.

In Nagrota, the BJP candidate, Devyani, promised to maintain the momentum in developmental works that was witnessed during her father’s time, while Harsh Dev Singh stated that the constituency lacks basic amenities, such as a safe drinking water supply and better roads.

The run-up to the polls also saw the political parties blaming each other for being closer to the BJP. On Sunday, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah dismissed claims by BJP leader Sunil Sharma that he had sought an alliance with the party in 2024. However, opposition parties have accused him of running the BJP agenda and failing to deliver on the election promises he made to the people last year.  

BJP’s Budgam district president, Hakeem Ruhulla Gazi, says that the NC has failed to deliver on the ground. “The NC government is dependent on the funding from the BJP-led government at the Centre to bridge the financial deficit. We fought the elections on the policies that we have adopted across India as well as in Kashmir for the welfare of people,” says Gazi. 

“When it comes to the NC, it has failed to fulfil the electoral promises of either providing 200 units of electricity or a safe drinking supply to the people in Budgam.”

The run-up to the elections also saw public spats between coalition partners NC and Congress. The Congress, which has extended support to the Omar government, however, remains angry with the NC for not sparing one Rajya Sabha seat for the party on which it could have won the polls recently. Senior Congress leader, G N Monga, says that the NC didn’t consult the party to seek the participation of its leaders in the campaigning for the by-elections for its candidates. “Our leaders were busy in Bihar, but the NC didn’t ask us to support their candidates during the by-elections,” he says.

Ahead of the elections, authorities reviewed the security arrangements for the by-elections to ensure that there would be no untoward incidents, while staff were also deployed at the polling stations on the eve of the polls. Deputy Chief Electoral Officer Kashmir, Muhammad Altaf Zullah, states that the staff and EVM deployment were made a day before the voting.

In Budgam, NC’s own MP, Aga Ruhulla, refused to campaign for the party due to the party’s failure to fulfil its electoral promises, particularly the restoration of Article 370. Nisar Hussain, a voter in Ichigam area, however, says that it would have little impact on the outcome of the polls. 

“When Aga Syed Mehmood was the MLA of Pattan and Beerwah, he did a lot of development there. We are hopeful that he will ensure the development in the  Budgam constituency as well,” he says.