J&K poll fray heats up as PCC chief Karra fielded from Central Shalteng, BJP president Raina to contest Nowshera

The Congress’s Monday list involves constituencies bound for polls in the second phase, of which only Karra’s seat falls in the Valley.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Karra had defeated NC chief Farooq Abdullah by over 40,000 votes in Srinagar as the PDP candidate. A fierce critic of the PDP-BJP alliance government, he later quit as an MP in protest against civilian killings in Kashmir in 2016. He joined the Congress next year.

He had served as the finance minister during 2005-08, when the PDP-Congress coalition government was in office.

Karra became the first Congress leader from the Valley to be inducted as a Congress Working Committee (CWC) member.

In the 2014 polls, the Central Shalteng seat was won by Karra’s former confidant Noor Mohammad Sheikh on the PDP ticket. Sheikh later shifted to the Altaf Bukhari-led Apni Party after the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019. He recently resigned from the Apni Party, deciding to contest the seat as an Independent candidate.

The Congress has also fielded former minister Shabir Khan from Thannamandi (ST) constituency, Mumtaz Khan from Reasi, Bhupender Jamwal from Mata Vaishno Devi, Iftikhar Ahmed from Rajouri (ST) and Mohammad Shahnawaz Choudhary from Surankote (ST).

Shabir Khan, who had also won the 2008 election, is currently the vice-chairperson of the Rajouri District Development Council (DDC).

Mumtaz Khan, former MLA from Gulabgarh, is the son of a prominent Gujjar leader Haji Buland Khan. Mumtaz and his brother Ajaz, ex-legislator, were among the Apni Party’s founding members. Mumtaz recently returned to the Congress fold. His brother-in-law and former minister Chowdhary Zulfikar has been fielded by the BJP from the Budhal constituency.

Shahnawaz Choudhary was known as a baiter of Ghulam Nabi Azad when the latter was with the Congress. He is now an elected member of the Poonch DDC.

The Congress has fielded Bhupinder Jamwal from the newly-created Shri Mata Vaishno Devi seat. He has been the president of the pony wallas and pithu union, which operates between Katra town and Mata Vaishno Devi shrine in Trikuta Hills.

On Monday, the BJP also released its fourth list of six candidates for the second phase, fielding its J&K unit president Ravinder Raina from the Nowshera seat and party general secretary Vibodh Gupta from the ST-reserved Rajouri constituency. The other four party candidates will be in the fray from the Kashmir region.

In 2014, Raina had defeated the PDP’s Surinder Choudhary by 10,000 votes from Nowshera. Gupta was elected to the erstwhile J&K Legislative Council in 2015.

In the Valley, the BJP has fielded Aijaiz Hussain from the Lal Chowk seat in Srinagar. Hussain is a DDC member.

The party nominated Ali Mohammad Mir from Khansahib in Budgam. It also announced little known candidates, Arif Raja and Zahid Hussain from the Eidgah seat in Srinagar and the Chrar-e-Sharief seat in Budgam, respectively.

The jailed Independent MP Engineer Rashid’s Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) also released its second list of 10 candidates for the second and third phases, who will contest as Independents.

The AIP has pitted former Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industries (KCCI) president Sheikh Ashiq as its candidate from Ganderbal against NC leader and ex-CM Omar Abdullah. The party has also fielded former trade union leader Ishtiyaq Qadri from Habakadal and Mohammad Maqbool Beig from Hazratbal.

The banned Jamaat-e-Islami Jammu and Kashmir, which has nominated four Independent candidates for the first phase of polls, is fielding Dr Kaleemullah Lone as its candidate from North Kashmir’s Langate seat, which is up for polls in the third phase.

Kaleemullah is the son of Ghulam Qadir Lone, a member of the Jamaat’s eight-member panel, which has decided to return to the democratic process and has been engaged in talks with the Centre to get the ban on the outfit lifted.