Srinagar, April 13 (Inditop) National Conference (NC) patron Farooq Abdullah Monday said that he would file his nomination to contest from the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat along with another party leader, Salman Sagar.
“I and Salman Sagar, the Srinagar Municipal Corporation chairman, shall file nominations for the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat,” Farooq Abdullah said at a press conference here.
He said that party president and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah would decide who among them would finally contest the Srinagar seat. Salman Sagar is the son of senior party leader Ali Muhammad Sagar.
The former chief minister also named candidates for the Baramulla Lok Sabha seat and two assembly seats of Sonawar and Hazratbal where bypolls are scheduled.
“Sharief-ud-Din Shariq would be the NC candidate for the Baramulla Lok Sahba seat while Dr. Mustafa Kamal would contest by-polls for the Hazratbal assembly seat and Muhammad Yasin Shah would be the NC candidate for the Sonawar assembly seat by-elections,” Farooq Abdullah told reporters at the party’s Nawa-e-Subha complex here.
Both the Sonawar and Hazratbal assembly seats fell vacant after Farooq Abdullah resigned from them prior to his election to the Rajya Sabha earlier this year.
Mustafa Kamal, the younger brother of the National Conference patron, had lost the December 2008 assembly elections to an independent candidate, Ghulam Hassan Mir, from north Kashmir’s Gulmarg constituency.
Shariq had also lost the 2008 assembly elections to an independent candidate, S. Rashid, from the north Kashmir Langate assembly constituency.
Muhammad Yasin Shah had won the 2002 assembly elections from Sonawar, but had not been fielded for the 2008 elections by the party as Abdullah senior chose to contest from the seat last December.
Mirza Mehboob Beg, another senior party leader, has filed nominations for south Kashmir’s Anantnag Lok Sabha seat.
Beg had lost the 2008 assembly elections to People’s Democratic Party (PDP) patron Mufti Muhammad Sayeed from Anantnag constituency.
Farooq Abdullah said separatist leader Sajad Lone’s decision to contest the Lok Sabha polls from Baramulla was a victory for democracy in the state. He added that more separatist leaders should follow the People’s Conference leader’s move to join mainstream politics and work for peace and development in Jammu and Kashmir.