Lok Sabha elections: Mehbooba Mufti won from Anantnag in 2004 and then in 2014. People’s Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti will contest the Lok Sabha election from Anantnag-Rajouri constituency, facing ex-Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad. The PDP has also announced Waheed Para from Srinagar and Fayaz Mir from Baramulla constituency. The PDP said it will support the Congress on two Jammu region seats of Udhampur and Jammu. The seat announcement comes days after the PDP said it will contest on three seats in Kashmir valley alone, accusing INDIA bloc ally National Conference of leaving her party with ‘no option’. “They (NC) have left no option for us other than to field candidates and contest the elections,” Mufti had said.“When the INDIA bloc’s meeting took place in Mumbai, I said there that since (NC president) Farooq Abdullah is our senior leader, he will take a decision (on seat-sharing) and will do justice. I had hoped he would keep the party interests aside,” Mufti, who won from Anantnag in 2004 and 2014, said. National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah had hit back at PDP, alleging it was going back on the understanding reached between the constituents of People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) for the District Development Council (DDC) elections in 2020.Mufti is pitted against Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) chief Ghulam Nabi Azad. The former Congress leader said he is fighting the election for reinstatement of J&K’s statehood.“The biggest issue is that we are without statehood. We are a Union Territory. I fought in the Rajya Sabha when Article 370 was abrogated. I want to fight in Lok Sabha too for statehood…We will demand full statehood where there would be a Governor…My first battle in Lok Sabha would be for the reinstatement of statehood,” ANI quoted him as saying.The Anantnag-Rajouri seat goes to polls in the third phase of Lok Sabha elections on May 7. The counting of votes will take place on June 4.
