Engineer Rashid set to queer the pitch for Abdullahs and Muftis in Kashmir polls
Srinagar: Jailed parliamentarian Engineer Rashid’s Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) is set to field around three dozen candidates in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections, potentially turning them into a four-cornered contest and adding uncertainty about the nature of the mandate. Multiple politicians across party lines whom ThePrint spoke to are of the view that a multi-cornered contest raises the prospect of a fractured verdict, which may result in President’s Rule being continued and an elected government eluding the people even after six years.
Given how Rashid galvanised the youth in the Lok Sabha elections, the AIP’s large-scale entry into the electoral fray in the Kashmir Valley threatens to upset the electoral calculations of mainstream parties such as the National Conference (NC) and ...