Campaign colours in Lal Chowk

Jammu and Kashmir's Lal Chowk constituency - which remained the centrefold of BJP's narrative over the past few years - is going to the polls on Wednesday.

This constituency was redrawn after the recent delimitation exercise and parts of Amira Kadal and Sonawar constituencies were joined and renamed as Lal Chowk constituency.

After the abrogation of Article 370 and 35(A) in August 2019, BJP's focus remained on the Lal Chowk constituency, where they redeveloped the area around the clock tower (Ghanta Ghar) and the markets around it as part of the Smart City project. In fact, BJP organised the first rally at Lal Chowk following August 5, 2019, and hoisted the Tricolour there. Later, Rahul Gandhi also hoisted the Tricolour there during his Bharat Jodi Yatra. In the 1990s, Murli Manohar Joshi hoisted the Tricolor there and was accompanied by Narendra Modi, who was then a BJP worker.



In this election, BJP has fielded Aijaz Hussain, the party's young face from Balhama area on the outskirts of Srinagar, who had won the district development council elections earlier. National Conference has fielded Sheikh Ahsan, alias Ansan Pardesi, who is also contesting for the first time. Another aspiring MLA, Zuhaib Yusuf Mir of PDP, is also contesting from here. They are facing an experienced politician Muhammad Ashraf Mir (Apni Party), who won elections from Sonwar seat in 2014, defeating Omar Abdullah of NC.

"We want people to give us a chance. I am a son of the soil and have done work for the people here. BJP is the party which can bring positive change on the ground," Aijaz told ET.


The historic Lal Chowk has witnessed former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru addressing a gathering here and promising plebiscite. Later, in 1987, when this area was part of Amira Kadal constituency, Muhammad Yusuf Shah, a Muslim United Front candidate, lost elections here following alleged widespread rigging. Shah, in early 1990s, crossed the border for arms training and is now famous as Syed Salahuddin, head of the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen and United Jehad Council.

"Lal Chowk is nobody's jageer, vote for Ashraf Mir," blared a campaign vehicle passing through the city centre of Srinagar. "I want to focus on the youth and ensure that they don't fall prey to graft and scams in the recruitment," Mir said in one of the rallies. He lost the last Lok Sabha elections from Srinagar constituency but managed to get 65,000 votes.

"I am in politics to serve people. I will ensure that anti-J&K forces don't win here and our focus is to ensure peace with dignity," said Zuhaib Mir at one of the gatherings here.