Mehbooba Mufti will contest the upcoming LokSabha elections from Anantnag, while her party has decided not to field candidates on two Jammu seats to “avoid division of secular votes”.
The party has decided to field Aga Syed Mohsin on theSrinagar seat, while it is yet to decide on the candidature for the Ladakhseat.
The party’s parliamentary board, the highest decision makingbody, met on Saturday at the residence of Mehbooba to decide on the candidates.Coming out of the meeting, Mehbooba told a press conference that she willcontest from Anantnag.
Mehbooba had won the seat in 2014 LokSabha elections beforequitting it in 2016 to return to the state politics in April that year as chiefminister of the state.
Spread over four districts, the Anantnag constituency hasbeen seething with anger since July 2016 when militant commander BurhanWani waskilled by forces in a remote village of the district.
Mehbooba said the decisionto not contest two seats of Jammu division – Jammu-Poonch andUdhampur-Doda-Kathua—was taken in “larger interest” of the state.
“There was one opinion that we should contest but ourworkers and others including civil society members and social groups appealedthat our decision to contest can divide secular vote and hand over theadvantage to those forces who want to destroy Jammu and Kashmir,” saidMehbooba.
She said during 2014 election, PDP secured around 1.75 lakhvotes from Jammu seat and around 40,000 votes from Udhampur seat.
Today, Mehbooba said, the party vote strength has grown toaround 2.5 lakh in the two constituencies. “And if we stand in the electionsthis secular vote will get divided. We don’t want that to happen.”
“Our workers want that thesecular vote shouldn’t get divided. It is obvious where our vote will go. Thiswill ensure strengthening of secular forces,” she said.
However, Mehbooba linked the decision of not contesting fromJammu to the idea of Congress-led mahagathbandan that is taking shape among theparties against the BJP at pan-India level.
“This mahagathnbandan is happening but not with the pace itshould have been. But we will try at our level to ensure the secular votedoesn’t get divided (in Jammu),” said Mehbooba.
The PDP’s decision alsocomes days after the National Conference decided not to field candidates forthe Jammu seats, in a seat sharing arrangement with Congress.
With both NC and PDP deciding against contesting, theCongress is likely to have an edge in the election on Jammu seats against theBJP.
Mohsin, who is PDP’s candidate for Srinagar-Budgam seat,joined the PDP in 2017. He contested 2014 Parliament election from the Srinagarseat as independent and claimed to have secured more than 17000 votes. He thenjoined National Conference. Mohsin started his political career with Congressand contested 2008 Assembly elections from Hazratbal seat.
In 2014, the PDP had also won the prestigious Srinagar seat,but its MP Tariq Hameed Karra resigned from the party and parliament in 2016 inprotest against civilian killings in Kashmir. The by-election to theconstituency was later won by Farooq Abdullah who had been defeated by Karraearlier.
The PDP chief said herparty was yet to take a decision on candidature for Ladakh seat, while it hasfielded former union leader Abdul QayoomWani on Baramulla seat.
Meanwhile, Mehbooba termedthe ban imposed on JKLF as “unfortunate”, saying banning an organization thathad given up “violent path” and was supporting peaceful resolution of Kashmirproblem would push people to the wall.
“Democracy is a battle ofideas. You are forcing them (JKLF) to resort to violence again by choking theirspace. This is bad and shouldn’t have happened because in democracy you have toprovide space to people to fight things politically rather than suppressingthem,” said Mehbooba.