Omar Abdullah had come to Nuner village of Ganderbal district where Sayim Mustafa, a political activist joined the party…reports Asian Lite News
Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and vice president of National Conference (NC), Omar Abdullah will contest the upcoming Assembly elections from the Ganderbal constituency.
This announcement was made by Syed Ruhullah Mehdi, a Lok Sabha member, and Nasir Aslam Wani, NC provincial president on Sunday in the presence of Omar Abdullah and Mian Altaf Ahmad, senior NC leader and MP from the Anantnag-Rajouri constituency.
Omar Abdullah had come to Nuner village of Ganderbal district where Sayim Mustafa, a political activist joined the party.
Sayim Mustafa had unsuccessfully fought the Lok Sabha election for the Srinagar seat when Syed Ruhullah Mehdi defeated Sayim among other candidates.
Sunday’s announcement about Omar Abdullah deciding to fight the Assembly elections has negated his earlier statement that he would not stand for the elections as long as J& K remained a union territory.
Omar Abdullah served as the Chief Minister of erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir state from 2009 to 2015 and was also the president of his party. He is a three-time Lok Sabha MP and has represented the Assembly constituencies of Ganderbal (2008-2014) and Beerwah (2014-2019). He lost the 2002 Assembly elections to Qazi Mohammad Afzal of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from Ganderbal.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has already issued notice for the first phase of the 3-phased Assembly polls in J&K. In the first phase, 24 Assembly segments spread in the Valley and the Jammu division will go to vote on September 18.
Voting for the second phase will take place on September 25 and for the last phase on October 1. Counting of votes will be held on October 4 and the entire poll process will be concluded by October 6.
J&K has been without an elected government since June 2018 when the BJP pulled out of the Mehbooba Mufti-led PDP-BJP coalition government. The state came under the Governor’s rule and the then-governor Satya Pal Malik dissolved the Assembly.
On August 5, 2019, Article 370 was abrogated and J&K was bifurcated into two union territories of J&K and Ladakh.
Azad fields 13 candidates for first phase of elections
Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) headed by former J&K Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Sunday announced the list of candidates for the first phase of Assembly elections in J&K.
The list of candidates includes 13 candidates namely former minister, Abdul Majeed Wani for Doda East assembly constituency and former MLA, Mohd Amin Bhat for Devsar, Mohd Aslam Goni for Bhaderwah, Advocate Saleem Parray for Doru, Muneer Ahmad Mir for Lolab.
Others figuring in the list of candidates are Bilal Ahmad Deva for Anantnag West, Ghulam Nabi Wani for Rajpora, Mir Altaf Hussain for Anantnag, Qaiser Sultan Ganai for Ganderbal, Gulam Nabi Bhat for Eidgah, Amir Ahmad Bhat for Khanyar, Nisar Ahmad Lone for Gurez and Peer Bilal Ahmad for Hazratbal.
DPAP candidate, G.M. Saroori fought the Lok Sabha election unsuccessfully from Kathua-Udhampur constituency which was won for the third consecutive term by Dr Jitendra Singh of the BJP.
In another jolt to the DPAP, senior leader, Taj Mohiuddin recently resigned from the party to rejoin the Congress. Taj had left the Congress in support of Ghulam Nabi Azad who later formed his own party, the DPAP.
In the Lok Sabha elections, DPAP supported Mohammad Ashraf Mir of J&K Apni Party for the Srinagar seat and Sajad Gani Lone of the People’s Conference (PC) for the Baramulla seat.
Both Mir and Sajad lost the Lok Sabha elections in the Valley. Despite his popularity in the Chenab Valley region, Azad has so far failed to catch the imagination of the voters in the Valley.
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