First off the blocks, Sajad Lone enters LS poll fray from Baramulla; People’s Conference to skip Jammu

This marks the second time Sajad is throwing his hat into the parliamentary poll ring. In 2009, he had contested the same seat in North Kashmir, but lost to the National Conference (NC)’s candidate. The Baramulla seat has traditionally been won by either the NC or the Congress.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the PC’s candidate Raja Ajaz Ali had lost from this seat to the NC’s Mohammad Akbar Lone with a margin of about 30,000 votes. The constituency encompasses extensive stretches from Budgam in Central Kashmir to Gulmarg, Lolab and Uri in the North, accounting for nearly 11 lakh voters.

The PC said it will take a decision on the other two constituencies in the Kashmir Valley – Srinagar and Anantnag – in due course, but will not contest any seat in the Jammu region of the Union Territory (UT).

Ansari said that based on his discussions with party leaders, the PC has decided to “take a call about other seats based on our limited resources and also how best to defeat the common enemy of the people of J&K”.

The party said that apart from Baramulla, they will fight “only where we believe we can win on our own and either seek support or give support respectively to any party.”
“We will not fight in the Jammu region and will not be instrumental in wasting or diverting a single vote through vote division,” Ansari said.

The PC has thus become the first party in J&K to announce its candidate for the Lok Sabha elections. The three major constituents of the INDIA alliance from the UT – the NC, PDP and Congress – have continued to be engaged in fractious seat-sharing negotiations for the polls, failing to hammer out a deal so far.

Sajad, 57, took over the reins of the PC in 2004 after the assassination of his father Abdul Gani Lone by militants.

He contested the 2014 J&K Assembly elections from his home turf Handwara and won the seat. He also became a BJP ally and served as a minister in the Mehbooba Mufti-led PDP-BJP government.

In the wake of Mehbooba’s resignation as the CM following the BJP’s withdrawal of support to their coalition government in June 2018, Sajad had attempted to stake claim to form the next government with support from the BJP. The then J&K Governor Satya Pal Malik however dissolved the state Assembly in November 2018.

Sajad was also with the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), which was formed by Kashmir’s mainstream parties including the NC and the PDP in 2020 to seek restoration of J&K’s statehood and special status under Article 370 and Article 35A, which were abrogated by the BJP-ruled Centre in August 2019.

A fierce critic of both the NC and the PDP, Sajad pulled out of the PAGD in January 2021 following differences among its partners over the District Development Council elections.