Rajouri, September 19: A direct contest between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) political heavyweight and his Nationalist Congress (NC) nephew has created a heated political atmosphere in the Budhar constituency in Rajouri district of Pir Panjal region.
People are expecting a very tight contest in this seat and consider it as the most interesting contest keeping every voter on their toes till the results are known.
The Budhal constituency was demarcated in the recent delimitation exercise in the Jammu and Kashmir state with Kotranka and Budhal districts carved out from the erstwhile Darhal constituency, while Khawas district was merged from Kalakote constituency.
The constituency has a total of 95,072 voters, including 50,295 men, 44,761 women and one transgender voter. The authorities will set up 146 polling stations in the constituency, of which 132 will be key polling stations.
The most important focus in this constituency is the contest between the People’s Party candidate and his nephew from North Carolina.
Former minister Chowdhary Zulfkar Ali is contesting on behalf of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), while the Indian National Congress (NC) has fielded Javed Iqbal Choudhary on behalf of the Indian National Congress-Congress alliance.
Zulfkar is the son of late Chaudhry Mohammad Hussain, who was a multiple-time MP from Dahal constituency and a minister in the Jammu and Kashmir state government.
In 2002, Zulfkar contested the parliamentary elections in Dahal constituency as an independent candidate but lost. In 2008, he joined the People’s Democratic Party and contested the parliamentary elections on behalf of the People’s Democratic Party and won. In 2014, he again represented the People’s Democratic Party and won.
Zulfkar was appointed as a Cabinet Minister in the BJP-PDP coalition government of Jammu and Kashmir and headed the CA&PD ministries (now FCS&CA), Information, Education and Tribal ministries.
He joined the Apni Party in 2020 and served as its vice-president before joining the BJP in August 2024.
His opponent Javed Iqbal Choudhary (son of Zulfkar’s biological sister) won the Kotranka Block Development Committee (BDC) election and continues to serve as the BDC chairman, while his wife Shazia Kouser is the DDC member of Buddar Old A (Kotranka) DDC constituency.
Javid and his wife, both independent political leaders, joined the NC in August 2024 and received the party’s mandate from the constituency.
The People’s Democratic Party candidate in the constituency, Guftar Ahmed Choudhary, is a young political rising star who is also considered a tribal activist and is running an active political movement in the area.
People in Rajouri district are keenly watching this fierce contest between members of the same family and they also consider it the most interesting compared to the other four constituencies in the district.
There are only four candidates in this constituency and the fourth candidate is Abdul Rashid from the Popular Socialist Party (BSP).
Budhal constituency is broadly divided into three parts, including Kotranka Peeri, Budhal and Khawas districts.
Most of the constituency is remote, with villages like Kote Charwal considered the most remote in Rajouri district.
The constituency has a mixed demographic structure with residents from the Hindu community, those from the Muslim Pahari tribe, and Gujjars and Bakerwals among the Muslims.
Almost 100% of the population of this constituency is tribal.
The region has a huge tourism potential with beautiful attractions like Nangatubu, Kandi Eco-tourism Park, Kesari Hills, Palni Dam and Budhar, and natural lakes like Samasar in the upper reaches.
Amid this political tussle, people in these areas expect proper political leadership to emerge after the elections and hope that their grievances will be addressed.
“We are facing numerous problems in this region. Budar, Kotlanka and Kawas are the most remote areas in this region and people are facing many problems,” said Mohammad Bashar.
He said the education and health sectors were in a poor state with the conditions of schools and hospitals being the worst, giving a bad name to the entire region, while people still did not have access to proper water supply and electricity.
He said the region needed to work on improving the health and education sectors.
“The region has huge tourism potential to receive both domestic and international tourists, but this requires a proper approach and we hope our next MLA will do so,” said Mohammad Zaheer.
He said the people of the region faced many problems which needed to be addressed on a priority basis and it was also important to have a vision to improve their livelihoods.
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