For PDP, LS polls a means to safeguard J&K’s identity: Mehbooba
Mehbooba was taking part in a roadshow in south Kashmir’s Pahalgam area during her election campaign.
Mehbooba was taking part in a roadshow in south Kashmir’s Pahalgam area during her election campaign.
The minister also accused the Congress, National Conference (NC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of staging fake encounters and handing over guns in the hands of the Kashmiri youth and these parties are responsible for encouraging terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir.
Political parties are worried that the migration is bound to upset their poll calculations.
The NC had unilaterally announced that it would field its candidates on all the three seats and fielded Mian Altaf from Anantnag. The NC had left two seats in Jammu for the Congress as part of the INDIA bloc's seat-sharing agreement.
Nasir Aslam Wani, who led the NC delegation, said they impressed upon the Election Commission the need for holding assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir together with the Lok Sabha polls.
The NC swept all the three seats of the Kashmir valley where alleged tinkering of the Articles 370 and 35A by the BJP had become a major electoral issue.
Earlier, Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq announced that the conglomerate led by him was "ready to support all Indo-Pak efforts aimed at ending hostility and seeking a peaceful solution" to the Kashmir issue
The Governor said that he would be inviting the leaders of different political parties to discuss their security concerns and how to address them so as to create a secure political and governance environment for one and all.
In March, when a high-level team of the Election Commission of India (ECI), led by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sunil Arora, went to Srinagar for consultations with various political parties, state administration and other stakeholders ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the mainstream political parties had urged the team to order simultaneous elections for the state assembly and Lok Sabha.
Of the 18 candidates in the fray in Anantnag, prominent are Hasnain Masoodi (NC), Sofi Yousuf (BJP), Ghulam Ahmad Mir (Congress) and Mehbooba Mufti (PDP).
