Among the names who were being keenly watched in the run-up – Iltija Mufti and Waheed-ur-Rehman of the PDP, Engineer Abdul Rashid’s brother Khurshid Ahmad Sheikh, and Aijaz Guru, the brother of 2001 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru
With the dust settling on the big winner and losers in the assembly elections, much can be read into the performance of four names who were being keenly watched in the run-up – Iltija Mufti and Waheed-ur-Rehman Parra of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Engineer Abdul Rashid’s brother and Awami Ittehad Party’s Langate candidate Khurshid Ahmad Sheikh, and Aijaz Guru, the brother of 2001 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.
Iltija, the 36-year-old daughter of PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, lost her electoral debut from the bastion of Srigufwara-Bijbehara that had been in the family since 1996. Mehbooba had chosen not to contest the election.
Having emerged onto the scene after her mother’s detention by the central government ahead of the revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir on August 5, 2019, Iltija was pitted against only two candidates — National Conference’s (NC) Bashir Ahmad Veeri and Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Sofi Yousuf.
Veeri dominated the counting from the very beginning and emerged victorious, defeating Mufti by 9,770 votes. Mufti managed to get 23,529 votes against his opponent’s 33,299.
“I accept the verdict of the people. The love & affection I received from everyone in Bijbehara will always stay with me. Gratitude to my PDP workers who worked so hard throughout this campaign,” Mufti wrote on X.
PDP Youth president Parra, who was contesting from Pulwama assembly seat, meanwhile, gave the party some solace by beating NC’s Mohammad Khalil Band from Pulwama. Para, who was also the DDC member from Pulwama, took 24,716 votes while Band polled 16,568 votes for a healthy margin of 8,148 votes.
The constituency has a history of violence, including the attack on CRPF bus in February 2019 that had left 40 jawans dead at Lethpora on the national highway. The attack had changed Jammu and Kashmir’s security and political landscape and the district has witnessed several encounters since.
In the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls, Para ran a high-octane campaign for Srinagar Lok Sabha seat but lost to NC’ Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi despite securing 1.77 lakh votes.
Parra, former secretary of the Jammu and Kashmir sports council, is considered close to Mehbooba Mufti and has been one of the most active youth workers of the party. He stood by PDP even when the party was jolted by desertions soon after the abrogation of Article 370.
The NIA had arrested Parra over alleged links with militants in January 2021 but the PDP termed all charges baseless. While he was granted bail in 2020, he was again arrested by the Jammu and Kashmir Police’s CID wing. Parra was first arrested under the provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in November 2020, three days after he filed his nomination for the District Development Council elections. After spending 17 months in jail, the PDP leader was released in May after the high court granted him bail in 2022.
AIP candidate from Langate in north Kashmir, Khurshid Ahmad Sheikh won the constituency by defeating Peoples Conference’s Irfan Sultan Pandithpuri by a slender margin of 1,602 votes. In a neck-to-neck contest, Sheikh secured 25,984 votes against Padithpuri’s 24,382.
Sheikh’s win is the only consolation for brother Engineer Rashid’s AIP as it did not win any other seat despite running a rigorous campaign and contesting on 35 seats.
Rashid, who was elected the MLA from the constituency in 2008 and 2014, was led from this assembly segment by over 20,550 votes. The party could not repeat its spectacular Lok Sabha win when Rashid had defeated NC vice-president Omar Abdullah. Sheikh, a government teacher, resigned from his position in June, shortly after his brother’s win.
Unlike the feisty Rashid though, Khurshid Sheikh is a soft-spoken man who campaigned by going door-to-door and has hardly interacted with the media.
Ajaz Ahmad Guru, the brother of the 2011 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, meanwhile, had also filed nominations as an independent from Sopore.
The 58-year-old, however, had distanced himself from his brother right from the start. He, however, failed to make any impact whatsoever, securing just 129 votes. Sopore went into the NC’s Irshad Rasool Kar who secured 26,975 votes. Source