Jammu & Kashmir Assembly polls phase 1 begins: Iltija Mufti, Yousuf Tarigami, among 6 key candidates in the fray

Voting is being held in 24 seats in the first phase of the Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections today, September 18. The first phase covers 16 seats in Kashmir and eight seats in the Jammu region.

Assembly elections are being held in the erstwhile state in three phases. The other two phases will be held on September 25 and October 1. The results will be announced on October 8.

This is the first assembly poll held in the erstwhile state in ten years after the Narendra Modi government revoked Jammu and Kashmir's special status under Article 370 in August 2019 and downgraded the state into two Union Territories.

As many as 219 candidates are competing in the first phase of voting. Here is a look at six key candidates in the fray today:

Mohammed Yousuf Tarigami - Kulgam

Tarigami, the veteran CPI-M leader, is seeking a fifth consecutive term from the Kulgam seat in South Kashmir, once a hub of militancy. As many as 10 candidates are vying for the seat with the main contest seemingly between Tarigami and Nazir Ahmad Laway of People's Conference. Laway was earlier with the PDP.

Sayyar Reshi, an independent candidate backed by the banned Jamaat-e-Islami, is also in the fray from the Kulgam seat today.

Iltija Mufti - Bijbehara-Srigufwara

Iltija Mufti, daughter of PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, is making her electoral debut from the family’s home turf of Bijbehara-Srigufwara seat. She is in a direct contest with National Conference veteran Bashir Veeri here. Veeri previously lost two elections in a row from the seat. The seat is considered a PDP bastion.

Iltija, 37, is a third-generation politician from the Mufti family. Her mother, Mehbooba Mufti, and her grandfather, the late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, have won from Bijbehara-Srigufwara seat, earlier known as Bijbehara.

Waheed ur Rehman Parra - Pulwama

Waheed-ur-Rehman Parra is the PDP candidate for the Pulwama Assembly seat. National Conference leader Khalil Ahmad Bandh won the seat in 2014 as a PDP candidate but switched to the NC after the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019. Bandh is contesting from the seat this time. 

Another candidate who has made the contest interesting is Independent Dr Talat Majeed, who is backed by the banned Jamaat-e-Islami.

Parra contested the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat in the 2024 general elections and lost. A youth leader, Para spent three years in various jails before being released last year.

Shagun Parihar - Kishtwar

Shagun Parihar, whose father Ajit Parihar and uncle Anil Parihar militants killed in 2018, is the BJP candidate from the Kishtwar assembly constituency.

The NC has fielded Sajjad Ahmad Kichloo, while the PDP has fielded Firdous Tak from the seat in the Jammu region.

Khalid Najib Suharwady – Doda

National Conference leader Khalid Najib Suharwady is in a friendly contest against Congress leader Sheikh Riyaz from the Doda seat. Suharwady comes from a distinguished political lineage and served as minister in Jammu and Kashmir under the then-chief minister Farooq Abdullah.

Congress leader Riyaz began his career as a sarpanch and later served as the general secretary of the Jammu and Kashmir Congress Committee (JKPCC).

The BJP has fielded Gajay Singh Rana, and the PDP has given a ticket to Mansoor Ahmed Bhat from the Doda seat.

Vikar Rasool Wani- Banihal Gool

Congress leader and former JKPCC chief Vikar Rasool Wani is contesting from the Banihal-Gool seat in Jammu. He has also represented the seat before. Wani is contesting against Sajad Shaheen of the National Conference and Imtiyaz Shan of the PDP. The BJP has fielded Samil Bhat from here.

Banihal-Gool is one of the seats where the NC and the Congress are involved in a friendly fight.