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| Jamaat got share of 5 seats in 1972, Mirwaiz 2 seats in 1987 | | Geelani has contested more elections than Sheikh Abdullah, Begum, Farooq, Mustafa, Omar | | Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
SRINAGAR, May 20: Senior separatist leader and the die-hard proponent of boycott to the Indian democratic process, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, has remained unbeaten in contesting elections in Jammu & Kashmir by the National Conference (NC) founder Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah and all members of his family and progeny in the last 40 years. While Geelani and his Jamaat-e-Islami had participated in Assembly and Lok Sabha years before Sheikh Abdullah got back power and contested his one-odd election, Mirwaiz Maulvi Mohammad Farooq had not only helped Morarji Desai’s Janata Party (JP) to win one seat in Srinagar in 1977 but had also taken share of two Assembly seats from then ruling coalition of National Conference and Congress in 1987.
Neither Sheikh Abdullah nor any member of his family had jumped on the universal suffrage before Syed Ali Shah Geelani contested his first Lok Sabha election in the mid-term general elections for the Indian Parliament in 1971. Sheikh was, earlier, one among 75 members “elected” in the dubiously conducted elections for formation of the Jammu & Kashmir Constituent Assembly in 1951. Without conducting polls, all nominees of then ruling party, NC, had been declared elected “uncontested” from Kashmir valley and most of the segments in Jammu.
From the day of his dismissal as ‘Wazeer-i-Aazam’ and arrest on August 9th, 1953, till his return to the throne in 1975, Sheikh and his Mahaaz-e-Rai Shumari (Plebiscite Front) boycotted elections but supported independent Shamim Ahmed Shamim against Bakhshi Ghulam Mohammad in Srinagar in the Lok Sabha elections of 1971. Shamim defeated Sheikh’s bete noire with an impressive margin of 29,000 votes.
Geelani was a Jamaat-backed independent debutant in the same Lok Sabha elections from the North Kashmir constituency of Baramulla. Then government-sponsored Syed Ahmed Aga polled 93,041 votes against Geelani’s 28,543.
Thereafter, Geelani was among 17 candidates of JI who contested Assembly elections of 1972. While Geelani polled 11,396 votes and was declared elected from Sopore, four of his party colleagues were returned from Khanyar (Qari Saif-ud-din), Tankipora (Ghulam Nabi Nowshehri), Kulgam (Abdul Razaq Mir) and Nandi (Ali Mohammad Dar).
In 1977, Geelani contested second consecutive Lok Sabha election---third of his political career---from Baramulla. This time, he suffered defeat at the hands of NC’s Abdul Ahad Vakil. While the winner Vakil got 1,47,222 votes, Geelani polled a sizeable 100,003.
Three months later, he was among a number of JI candidates who participated in the Assembly elections of 1977. This time, he achieved his second consecutive victory from his home segment of Sopore, defeating NC’s stalwart, Hakeem Habibullah with a thin margin of 33 votes. While Geelani bagged 16,717 votes, Hakeem took 16,684. It was in the same Assembly elections that Sheikh’s NC swept the polls in Valley, sparing just one seat for JI and two-odd seats for JP, which enjoyed the support of veterans like Mirwaiz Farooq, Maulana Masoodi, Ghulam Mohiuddin Qarra, Maulvi Iftikhar Ansari, Abdul Gani Lone and Pandit Prem Nath Bazaz. While JP’s Abdul Gani Lone was returned from Handwara, same party’s Abdul Rasheed Kabuli, who was Mirwaiz Farooq’s nominee, was declared elected from Iddgah segment in Srinagar.
In 1983, Geelani was yet again repeated among a number of JI’s candidates for the Assembly elections. Once again contesting from Sopore, Geelani was this time defeated by NC’s Hakeem Habibullah. In the elections conducted in months of Sheikh Abdullah’s death, Hakeem polled 17,48 votes and the incumbent Geelani had to be content with 12,974.
However the reversal of mandate in 1983 did not push Geelani to take retirement from the mainstream politics. He contested the 6th election of his political career as a candidate of Muslim United Front (MUF)--which had JI as a key constituent---from Sopore and was among four-odd candidates of the alliance who were returned from Kashmir. This time, Geelani polled a massive 24,392 and defeated NC’s Abdul Ahad Vakil, who got 19,442 votes.
On the other hand, Sheikh Abdullah contested the first and the last election of his life in 1977. Contesting the general Assembly election on NC’s ticket---first time after returning to power in 1975---Sheikh was NC’s candidate from Ganderbal. Formerly a top functionary of Indian Motion Picture Producers Association, Ali Mohammad Tariq contested against Sheikh as an independent candidate. While Sheikh got the lion’s share of 26,162, his nondescript rival polled just 3,509 votes.
Even as Sheikh did not participate in any elections for the Indian Parliament, his wife, Begam Akbar Jehan, was NC’s candidate from Srinagar in the Lok Sabha elections of 1977. Begam got the windfall of 2,10,072 votes against the independent candidate and Shia cleric-politician, Maulvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari’s 78,431. Even after Sheikh’s death, Begum was fielded as NC’s candidate in the Lok Sabha elections of 1984 from the South Kashmir constituency of Anantnag-Pulwama, held during Ghulam Mohammad Shah’s regime. She polled 2,40,973 against then ruling coalition nominee, Pir Hisamuddin’s 1,58,963. Thereafter, she did not participate in any elections.
While Sheikh Abdullah contested one Assembly election and his spouse two-odd Lok Sabha elections, their successor son Dr Farooq Abdullah was declared elected uncontested in the mid-term Lok Sabha elections in 1980 after all of his rivals withdrew their nomination papers. Contesting his first Assembly election from Ganderbal in 1983, NC’s Dr Abdullah polled 32,331 and defeated Congress nominee, Ghulam Mohiuddin Salati, who got just 1,235 votes.
Dr Abdullah contested his second Assembly election again from Ganderbal in 1987 when he bagged 30,245 votes and his MUF rival, Abdul Khaliq Sofi, collapsed with 7,446.
In 1996, Dr Abdullah contested his third successive Assembly election from Ganderbal when he polled 16,440 against then Congress rival Qazi Mohammad Afzal’s 3,617.
While Dr Abdullah did not participate in the elections in 2002, he was NC’s candidate in the general Assembly elections of 2008 from two segments of Hazratbal and Sonwar in the capital city. In Hazratbal, he polled 11,041 votes and defeated PDP’s Asiya Naqash, who bagged 6,769 votes. In Sonwar, Dr Abdullah polled 7,018 and his PDP rival, Sheikh Ghulam Qadir Pardesi, lost with a paltry shortfall of 94 votes. He polled 6,924.
Dr Abdullah’s second Lok Sabha election from Srinagar-Budgam in 2009 was his 6th election in 29-year-long political career. He polled 1,47,035 and defeated his nearest rival, PDP’s Maulvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari, who got 1,16,793 votes. It was this particular election that Dr Abdullah became equal to Geelani in contesting elections in J&K.
Dr Abdullah’s younger brother, Dr Sheikh Mustafa Kamal, made his debut when he contested the Assembly elections of 1977 as NC candidate from Gulmarg. He polled 19,260 against former Law Minister of G M Shah’s government, Ghulam Hassan Mir, who got 10,526.
In 1996, Dr Kamal was once again NC’s candidate from Gulmarg. While he was returned for the second term with 18,575 votes, his Congress rival, Ghulam Hassan Mir, bagged 16,822. However, in 2002, Mir took the revenge of his life from Dr Kamal, defeating latter with a margin of about 20,000 votes. While Mir got 27,737 votes, Dr Kamal got a pitiable 7,749. However, in the by-elections of 2006, NC’s Dr Kamal defeated PDP’s Maulvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari with a margin of about 3,000 votes from Pattan. Contesting the 5th Assembly election, Dr Kamal again lost to the J&K DP(N) chief, Ghulam Hassan Mir, from Tangmarg in 2008. While Dr Kamal polled 11,812, Mir was returned with 18,253.
Sheikh Abdullah’s grandson and Dr Abdullah’s successor son, Omar Abdullah, contested his maiden election in 1998 when he was NC’s candidate in the Lok Sabha elections in Srinagar-Budgam. Even as Omar polled an impressive 1,44,609, his Congress rival, Aga Syed Mehdi, had to be content with just 73,770. Omar won his second successive election for Lok Sabha in 1999 when he defeated then independent candidate, Mehbooba Mufti, with a margin of about 37,000 votes. While Omar polled 55,542, Mehbooba got 18,683. In his third election---first for Assembly---Omar was defeated by PDP’s Qazi Mohammad Afzal from Ganderbal in 2002. While Omar got 8,752, Qazi bagged 11,622.
Luck again favoured Omar in his fourth election when he was NC’s candidate in the Lok Sabha elections of 2004 from Srinagar-Budgam. Making a hat-trick for the Parliament, Omar polled 98,422 votes and his PDP rival, Ghulam Nabi Lone Hanjoora, trailed with 75,263. Omar contested his career’s 5th election from Ganderbal when he was yet again NC’s candidate against PDP’s Qazi Afzal. This time, Omar stole the show with 16,519 votes in his favour. Qazi got 8,304 and the Congress nominee, Sheikh Ashfaq, stood third with 8,077 votes.
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