Tassaduq, Mir file nominations for Anantnag constituency

Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Anantnag, March 22

As Tassaduq Hussain Mufti, brother of Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, and state Congress president Ghulam Ahmed Mir today filed nominations for the byelection to the Anantnag parliamentary constituency, the high-profile candidates failed to bring any election fervour in the restive region hit by protests and surge of militancy for the past few years.

In the absence of flags, festoons, banners and sloganeering crowds, 45-year-old Tassaduq Mufti, cinematographer-turned-politician, entered the premises of Anantnag Deputy Commissioner at around 2 pm to file his nomination papers. Wearing casuals, Tassaduq Mufti, who was accompanied by senior PDP leaders Muzaffar Baig, Sartaj Madni, Abdul Rehman Veeri, Abdul Haq Khan and many others, was at ease.

“The real challenge for me will be after the election… The journey has just begun,” Tassaduq told reporters during a brief interaction after filing his nominations.

The byelection to the Anantnag Lok Sabha seat was necessitated after J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti won the Assembly bypoll in June last after. The contest on the Anantnag Lok Sabha seat will be also a test of Mehbooba Mufti as the south Kashmir has been a stronghold of the PDP. The poll in Anantnag is scheduled for April 12.

Tassaduq joined the PDP on the first death anniversary of his father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed in January this year and since then he has engaged himself in environmental and ecological issues. Tassaduq is taking keen interest resolving problems of solid waste management across J&K and is taking advice of top conservational architects of the country.

Earlier, J&K Congress president Ghulam Ahmad Mir filed his nomination papers. He was accompanied by Congress leaders Ambika Soni and Tariq Karra and former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.

The Congress and NC leaders addressed a meeting at Dak Bungalow in Khanabal, Anantnag.

The bypoll in Anantnag is taking place a few months after the unrest in which nearly 90 people were killed. The four districts of south Kashmir — Anantnag, Kulgam, Pulwama and Shopian — had remained the epicentre of the last year unrest and the anger is still visible.

“I am not interested in discussing polls as they only bring miseries to common people,” said a young shopkeeper outside the Anantnag Deputy Commissioner office. “Even as the situation looks normal, but there is a seething anger against the politicians.”

Many in Anantnag town fear that the turnout in the south Kashmir may be low compared to the previous elections. Amid fear of violence, the political parties, too, have limited their activities and have been calling workers to Anantnag for meetings. The political parties are carrying out low-profile campaigns in the volatile areas in the constituency.