Parliament election performance: Ajaz Jan still has political dominance over others in Mandi; Ganai stands next

Parliament election performance: Ajaz Jan still has political dominance over others in Mandi; Ganai stands next

POONCH TODAY NEWS

POONCH: In the politics of Poonch Haveli constituency, Mandi has remained the powerhouse for the majority of elected legislatures over the years. Those who dominated the Mandi belt, in addition to some other areas, managed to win assembly elections from the Haveli constituency.

After the 1996 assembly elections, the Jan family dominated Poonch haveli politics, with the late G.M. Jan remaining MLA for two terms. In the by-election after the death of the late G.M. Jan, Jehangir Hussain Mir became MLA for a shorter term of six months. In the 2008 assembly election, Ajaz Jan won the Poonch haveli seat with a comfortable margin. In the 2014 assembly elections, Shah Mohd Tantray won the haveli seat with the full backing of the late MLC Yashpaul Sharma. During the last twenty-eight years of politics, the Jan family mostly dominated Mandi politics, and this time again, during the recently held parliamentary elections, NC got 47,424 votes from Poonch Haveli constituency, and this performance shows that Ajaz Jan still has a dominance in Mandi politics over others. Other names like Shah Mohd Tantray and Dr. Shenaz Ganai failed to show their good performances during the DDC and recently held parliamentary elections, and that was a clear indication that both leaders have lost public backing. Dr. Shenaz Ganai, who joined the BJP later, and Shah Mohd Tantray also failed to garner maximum votes for the BJP-backed Apni party candidate Zaffer Manhas. Dr. Shenaz Ganai, who was looking after the Surankote constituency for the BJP, also failed to convince voters, as the coalition candidate got only 6,059 votes from Surankote. But after Ajaz Jan, Shamim Ganai performed well for the PDP, as its candidate, Mehbooba Mufti, got 18,456 votes from Haveli constituency. The PDP under the district presidency of Shamim Ganai also performed well in Surankote and Mendhar constituencies, with 17,989 and 26,456 votes, respectively. Ajaz Jan, who was labeled an underperformer by other Mandi-based leaders, proved everybody wrong with the performance of NC under his leadership. However, a few videos hit social media earlier in which some Gujjar leaders were seen targeting Ajaz Jan by saying that Jan has no base and he doesn’t like the NC candidate Mian Altaf. Those Gujjar leaders were even seen saying that Mian Altaf would win without the support of Ajaz Jan. In spite of massive differences between supporters of Mian Altaf, it was Jan who proved his adversaries wrong and showed a splendid performance for his party. Going by the recent parliament election performance of NC, the voting trends say that Ajaz Jan, who is the youth provincial president of NC, is still the most powerful face in Mandi politics, while PDP district president Shamim Ganai stands in second place. No doubt, Shamim Ganai also lost the DDC elections in Loran constituency to Riyaaz Choudhary, but in the 2024 parliament elections, the PDP under his leadership performed well and stood in second place with 18,456 votes. Ganai, who served the Mandi people as BDC chairman, is the only candidate at the moment in Mandi politics who performed well before Ajaz Jan, while the credibility and acceptability of other well-known leaders have fallen again after the result of the just concluded parliament elections. In Surankote and Mendhar assembly constituencies, NC also performed well with 49,425 and 41,796 votes, respectively.  Over and above, the trends indicate that Ajaz Jan still has a political dominance over other Mandi based leaders in the Poonch Haveli constituency, and it would be interesting to see whether Jan would be able to convert this performance into another good performance during the coming assembly elections.