SRINAGAR: Baramulla MP Er Rashid’s magic vanished in the Assembly polls. So is the case with Apni Party of Altaf Bukhari, DPAP of Ghulam Nabi Azad and Peoples Conference of Sajjad Gani Lone and banned Jamaat-e-Islami.
While in jail Er Rashid had defeated two political heavy eights Omar Abdullah and Sajjad Gani Lone in Baramulla in recently held Lok Sabha elections but his magic waned in the Assembly polls.
He campaigned aggressively and extensively in south, central and north Kashmir and was hopeful of winning a good number of seats to emerge as a king-maker in the government formation. But people’s “love for him” did not last long and his party could win only one seat. His brother Khurshid Ahmed Sheikh, who had quit his government job before polls, won from home constituency of Langate in Kupwara district.
Political analyst Noor Mohammad Baba said Er Rashid got sympathy votes in the Lok Sabha pollwws. “But after his release, he started showing ambition to play a larger role in Kashmir politics. He did not share that kind of victimhood any longer,” Baba said.
While Sajjad could manage to win one of the two seats he contested, the Apni Party, which was floated seven months after Article 370 abrogation, and DPAP drew blank.