Srinagar: Former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Mehbooba Mufti will be contesting the Lok Sabha election from the restive Anantnag constituency, where the polls will be held in three phases.
This was announced by Mehbooba on Saturday in Srinagar. Consisting of 16 assembly segments in four districts, Anantnag seat is crucial owing to the prevailing situation in the Valley as it remains on the edge for the last four years.
Mohsin Agha, a PDP leader from Shia community, will be contesting from the Srinagar seat. Abdul Qayoom Wani, a former leader of the teachers’ union who recently joined the PDP, has been fielded from the Baramulla seat. Mehbooba also announced that her party will not be fielding candidates from Jammu and Udhampur seat.
Mehbooba became the first chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir who has won Lok Sabha elections from Anantnag constituency twice, in 2004 and 2014. She resigned from the Lok Sabha seat and took over as the chief minister in April 2016 following the demise of her father Mufti Mohammad Sayed.
She continued her alliance with the BJP and led the coalition government till June 2018, when the BJP pulled out of the alliance. The state was brought under the Governor’s rule.
In 2014 elections, Mehbooba bagged 2,00,429 votes, which is over 53% of the total vote share of the constituency. She was followed by National Conference (NC) candidate, Mirza Mehboob Beigh, who later joined her party.
The NC has fielded retired High Court Judge, Hasnain Masoodi from the Anantnag seat, while Sofi Yousuf will be fighting the polls from Anantnag on BJP ticket.
The Anantnag seat remains vacant even after two years of Mehbooba’s resignation. The Election Commission has been unable to hold by-polls after violence marred the polling Srinagar.
J&K has six Lok Sabha seats, three in Kashmir region, two in Jammu and one in Ladakh. Mehbooba said that the decision to not contest polls from Jammu region, despite “impressive” result in last elections was aimed to “not divide the secular votes”.
Meanwhile, the NC and Congress have sealed a poll alliance in the state. The alliance, in which the Congress will be fighting on the two seats of Jammu with the help of the NC and the latter will contest Srinagar with the help of Congress.
But both the parties will be contesting on Anantnag and Baramulla seats.
South Kashmir is considered as the PDP's bastion. However, after the 2016 the party's popularity has taken a hit owing to civilian killings and worsening situation in the state. The upcoming polls will be a litmus test for the PDP here.
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