Breaking away from that tradition, PDP patron and former state chief minister, Mufti Muhammad Sayeed has been publicly saying he is fighting for a better dispensation for Jammu and Kashmir within the country's constitution.
Sayeed praises former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in rallies and public meetings and claims to fight for creating a wider space for debate and discourse in the state's politics.
There are 14 candidates in fray in this Lok Sabha seat, but the main contest is going to be between Farooq Abdullah and Tariq Hamid Karra of the regional Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The PDP has built inroads into areas once believed to be impregnable because of NC's influence. What has been worrying the PDP leaders who claim to depend largely on anti-incumbency factor, unemployment, corruption and mis-governance, is the separatist appeal to voters to boycott the polls in this Lok Sabha seat.
The recent terror attacks, killings of three village headmen and a poll official in south Kashmir's Anantnag constituency is likely to have a dampening effect on the voter turnout in Srinagar.
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