Allies from India clash in a “friendly” combat in three Valley seats
In the midst of their leaders Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti sharing the stage at the Opposition rally held in Delhi on Sunday in protest against CM and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest, the National Conference and Peoples Democratic Party, both members of the INDIA bloc, are scheduled to engage in a friendly contest for three Lok Sabha seats in the Kashmir Valley.
The Congress will run for Udhampur and Jammu among the five Lok Sabha seats in Jammu & Kashmir, with the backing of the traditional party from both the NC and PDP. The NC has chosen to run in all three of the Valley’s seats, Anantnag-Rajouri, Srinagar (central Kashmir), and Baramulla (North Kashmir), rejecting to share a seat with its INDIA and Gupkar Alliance partner PDP.
The NC claims there is no need to leave any seats for the PDP, having won all three of the Valley’s seats in the 2019 elections. Mehbooba’s party has insisted that Anantnag-Rajouri, ideally, be left vacant by NC. The Congress made fruitless attempts to convince NC to give the PDP the seat in Anantnag.
In order to avoid a split of votes, the Congress then pleaded the PDP leadership not to file candidates for the Valley seats. PDP rejected the petition from Congress. This publication was informed by PDP general secretary Ghulam Nabi Lone that the party will be running for all three of the LS seats from Kashmir.
He said, “Yes, she will definitely contest the polls,” when asked whether PDP president Mehbooba Mufti will run in the local elections. He clarified, however, that it was still unclear which seat she would run for.
Party sources, however, said that Mehbooba may run from Srinagar or Anantnag. Mehbooba had an unsuccessful campaign from the Anantnag seat in the 2019 Legislative Assembly elections, coming in third. The seat went to Hasnain Masoodi of NC. A PDP senior said, “We are in a strong position and have the support of the public in both seats.”
Mehbooba might face former chief minister Omar Abdullah directly if she runs from Srinagar, where he is also planning to run. The election for three seats in Kashmir would be more intriguing and unexpected as a result of PDP’s participation into the polling contest in the Valley.
