Srinagar, Sep 20 (KNO): The Chadoora Assembly Constituency in Central Kashmir's Budgam district is set to witness a direct contest between National Conference’s (NC) Ali Mohammad Dar and Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) Mohammad Yaseen Bhat.
As per the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), apart from Dar and Bhat, four other candidates are in the fray including Syed Fahed Andrabi of Apni Party, Mohammad Abbas Kant of National Loktantrik Party, Faisal Fayaz and Nilofar Sajad Gandru—both independents.
Aafiqa Ali of Rashtriya Samaj Dal (R) has withdrawn her nomination for the seat.
Political analysts believe that the seat has a neck to neck contest between NC's Ali Mohammad Dar and PDP's Mohammad Yaseen Bhat.
They said that NC has one benefit that they haven't changed their candidate since 1996 as Ali Mohammad Dar has won the seat in 1996, however, he faced three consecutive defeats at the hands of PDP's Javid Mustafa Mir in 2002, 2008 and 2014 but his vote share has increased with each passing year.
The political pundits believe that PDP has a different candidate this time and he is expected to give tough competition to Ali Mohammad Dar as PDP has a good vote share in the constituency.
They further added that newly added areas to the constituency along with new voters of the constituency are expected to play a vital role and can decide the fate of the constituency.
In 2014, Peoples Democratic Party candidate Javaid Mustafa Mir won from this seat by securing 25770 votes while National Conference candidate Ali Mohammad Dar stood second and lost by a margin of 1693 votes.
In 2008, Peoples Democratic Party candidate Javaid Mustafa Mir won from this seat by securing 16278 votes while National Conference candidate Ali Mohammad Dar stood second and lost by a margin of 2940 votes.
In 2002, Peoples Democratic Party candidate Javaid Mustafa Mir won from this seat by securing 15923 votes while National Conference candidate Ali Mohammad Dar stood second and lost by a margin of 8047 votes.
In 1996, National Conference candidate Ali Mohammad emerged victorious by defeating his closest rival and Indian National Congress candidate Gh Nabi Mir by a margin of 5096 votes—(KNO)