Two months into politics, Mir stuns many

Bismah Malik

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, December 23

Yawar Dilawar Mir (27) was not even in the fray two months ago. His candidature from the Rafiabad constituency of north Kashmir was decided in November after his father, who is PDP’s general secretary, was convicted for three years by a court in New Delhi in case of illegal release of fertilisers.

However, Yawar finally got the PDP ticket for Rafiabad and stunned many, including his own party men, when he won the Rafiabad seat by beating his arch rivals – NC and Congress heavyweights Javid Ahmad Dar and Abdul Gani Vakil, respectively.

Yawar also became the youngest candidate to win the 2014 Assembly elections with this feat by defeating his closest rival Abdul Gani Vakil by 2,334 votes.

After the news of Yawar’s win broke in the party office, his party workers stood in awe saying that this youngest successful candidate was an underdog.

“Although the Rafiabad constituency was locked in a triangular contest among NC, PDP and Congress, but we weren’t expecting Yawar to win. Some months ago, he would not even be allowed inside the main gate because nobody knew him here,” said Aijaz Ali, a PDP office-bearer in Srinagar.

Yawar, who is a law graduate from Nottingham University, UK, secured 17,918 against Vakil’s 15,584 votes. NC’s Dar stood third by polling 14,980 votes.