news details |
|
|
| Retaining Anantnag seat first major challenge for Mehbooba | | | Early Times Report
Srinagar, June 16: As the stage is all set for by- elections in South Kashmiri's Anantnag assembly constituency on June 22, it will be a major challenge for Chief minister Mehbooba Mufti to retain her father's assembly seat after she took over the reins of power in the state on April 4.
Mehbooba will be facing rival National Conference's leader Iftikar Misger. The Congress will be represented by Hilal A Shah.
Mehbooba is currently representing south Kashmir's Anantnag constituency in the Parliament.
Winning the by polls is a necessity for her as she has to become either a member of the state assembly or its council within the mandatory period of six months from her swearing-in as CM on April 04.
The results of the bypoll will also reveal whether or not the people of south Kashmir, who have traditionally backed PDP, have accepted the party's alliance with the BJP.
"The polls are major test for Mehbooba and her party after aligning with BJP. Her loss or win will determine the course of her party's political future," said R. K Razdan, a political analyst.
He said that this by-poll will be like a test for the acceptance of new chief minister of PDP-BJP government among the people of state.
The Anantnag assembly seat fell vacant after the death of late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.
Of the 28 seats the PDP won in the 2014 assembly elections, 25 were from the Valley while the BJP won all its 27 seats from the Jammu region.
Mehbooba currently represents Anantnag in the Lok Sabha.
Besides Mehbooba, there are seven other candidates in the fray, including Hilal Ahmad Shah of the Congress and Iftikhar Hussain Misgar of the regional National Conference (NC).
Independent MLA from north Kashmir's Langate constituency, Engineer Rashid, had also filed his papers fromAnantnag but withdrew from the contest.
In the 2014 assembly elections, Mufti Muhammad Sayeed had defeated his nearest rival, Hilal Ahmad Shah of the Congress, by around 6,000 votes.
The NC had suffered a jolt at the time because its known face against Mufti Muhammad Sayeed, Mehboob Beg, decided to join the PDP at the last minute - leaving the NC dresperately battling for someone to take on Sayeed.
Most of 84,081 electors (42,924 males, 41,156 females and one neutral gender) in Anantnag constituency live within the Anantnag town where separatists have been successfully calling protests and shutdowns during the last 26 years since violence started in the state.
The election is also considered to be a major challenge for the security forces as there has been a deadly hit-and-run attack by militants in the town.
After Mehbooba took charge of the state as Chief Minister she has claimed that her party is committed to take forward the agenda of peace, development and reconciliation which was promised to the people by her father.
Throughout her 26-year long political career she has never lost an assembly election. She has repeatedly won assembly elections thrice from South Kashmir, in 1996 from Bijbehara, in 2002 from Pahalgam and in 2008 from Wachi assembly constituency.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
STOCK UPDATE |
|
|
 |
| BSE
Sensex |
 |
| NSE
Nifty |
|
|
| |
CRICKET UPDATE |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
