Lok Sabha elections 2024: Former Jammu and Kashmir CM Ghulam Nabi Azad to contest from Anantnag-Rajouri
Lok Sabha elections 2024: In 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Ghulam Nabi Azad had lost from Udhampur constituency to BJP leader Jitendra Singh by more than 60,000 votes
Ghulam Nabi Azad, former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, will contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from Anantnag -Rajouri constituency, his party Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) said on Tuesday.
Ending his five-decade-long association with the Congress, Azad left the grand old party in 2022. He floated his own political outfit-DPAP soon after.
"Today the core committee of DPAP met and we have decided that (party president) Ghulam Nabi Azad will contest the Anantnag-Rajouri seat," DPAP leader Taj Mohiuddin said.
In 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Azad had lost from Udhampur constituency to BJP leader Jitendra Singh by more than 60,000 votes. The 2024 election will be his first Lok Sabha election after that.
The Anantnag constituency, which spreads across the Pir Panjal range to include Rajouri and Poonch areas after delimitation, will go to polls on May 7 in the third phase of Lok Sabha elections.
The notification will be issued on April 12 while April 19 will be the last date for filing nominations. The last date for withdrawal of candidature will be April 22.
Mohiuddin, on the possibility of an alliance with Altaf Bukhari's Apni Party, said no progress has been made on that front yet.
“We are short of time and there was not much headway in talks. So it is better they do their bit and we do ours. They were not in any case interested in Anantnag seat.”
Mohiuddin said candidates for other Lok Sabha seats in Kashmir will be decided in due course.
Earlier today, senior CPI(M) leader in Jammu and Kashmir M Y Tarigami accused the BJP of resorting to dictatorship and said his party would not contest the 2024 Lok Sabha polls in the Union territory to consolidate votes and get rid of "tyrants".
"We will not contest (the Lok Sabha polls in Jammu and Kashmir) directly. Our political approach in today's times would be to defeat the BJP, to stop them from forming government. They have already done a lot of damage to Jammu and Kashmir," Tarigami told news agency PTI in an exclusive interview.
According to the Lok Sabha elections dates announcement, voting in Jammu and Kashmir will be held in five phases and the counting of the votes will take place on June 4. The results of the Jammu and Kashmir Lok Sabha elections 2024 will also be announced on June 4.
The Lok Sabha polls in the Union Territory will be held in the first five phases on April 19 (Udhampur), April 26 (Jammu), May 7 (Anantnag-Rajouri), May 13 (Srinagar) and May 20 (Baramulla). The counting of votes will be taken up on June 4.
(With agency inputs)
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Business NewsElectionsLok Sabha elections 2024: Former Jammu and Kashmir CM Ghulam Nabi Azad to contest from Anantnag-Rajouri
First Published:2 Apr 2024, 08:21 PM IST
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