Kashmir news: PDP's Mehbooba Mufti faces high-stakes battle in redrawn Anantnag-Rajouri seat in Phase 6 of LS elections

As the Srinagar and Baramulla constituencies make with their voter turnout in the 2024 , the focus now shifts to the Anantnag-Rajouri parliamentary constituency of Jammu and Kashmir, a seat steeped in political significance and intrigue.

The seat, which will be voted on in the sixth and penultimate phase of the Lok Sabha elections on May 25, has gained even more significance in shaping the region's political landscape after its

The Anantnag-Rajouri seat is currently a battleground for a three-way contest in the first election after the abrogation of Article 370 and redrawing of its political map. 

The (PDP) chief, Mehbooba Mufti, is contesting against Mian Altaf of the National Conference (NC), and Zafar Iqbal Manhas of the Apni Party, making the outcome of this election highly unpredictable.

For former J&K chief minister it is a high-stakes battle. Why? Because the Anantnag seat used to be a PDP bastion before delimitation in 2022. Mufti, 65, won the seat in 2004 and 2014 before the scrapping of Article 370. Her father and former Union Home Minister, the Late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, won the seat in 1998. 

The NC won the seat in 2019 (Hasnain Masoodi) and 2009 (Mehboob Beg).

Also, the PDP was expecting support from NC, its INDIA bloc partner. But that didn’t happen. The Farooq Abdullah-led NC, instead, fielded its candidate against Mufti. The two parties have supported the Congress candidates in two seats in the Jammu region.

Until 2022, the constituency in South Kashmir – known earlier as Anantnag – comprised only the districts of the Valley. However, a redrawn Anantnag-Rajouri seat was carved out by combining the region in the Valley and Rajouri and Poonch of the Jammu region, changing the seat's demography through