india

Updated: Mar 31, 2019 20:49 IST

Congress on Sunday named its Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee president Ghulam Ahmad Mir as its candidate for high profile Anantnag Lok Sabha seat.

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti will also be contesting elections from the seat.

In 2014, Mehbooba Mufti had won the Anantnag seat by defeating National Conference candidate Mehboob Beigh. In a list released by AICC on Sunday, the Congress has named Ghulam Ahmad Mir as its candidate for the Lok Sabha seat. Mir had earlier represented Dooru assembly constituency twice and also served as minister in National Conference-Congress coalition government twice.

National Conference had named former retired Justice Husnain Masoodi as its candidate. With the nomination of Mir the contest will be triangular on the seat. Mir who is a veteran politician enjoys good support base in some parts of South Kashmir and could make contest difficult for Mehbooba Mufti.

Ghulam Ahmad Mir said that the party has placed its faith in him by announcing his name. “I am hopeful the people will support the party which has real secular credentials and will fight BJP. The other parties could not represent Kashmir in Parliament in a strong way.”

The National Conference and Congress had sealed an alliance on March 20 for three Lok Sabha seats in Jammu and Kashmir and decided to go for friendly contests on three other seats, including Anantnag. The state sends six MPs to the Lok Sabha.

South Kashmir was earlier considered as a PDP bastion and in 2014 election party not only managed to win the Anantnag Lok Sabha seat but also won 11 assembly segments. However, after the party formed a coalition government with BJP, it faced lot of resentment.

The polling for Anantnag Lok Sabha seat will be held in three phases due to security concerns over large number of local militants. After Mehbooba Mufti took oath as chief minister in 2016, she had resigned as Lok Sabha MP. The bye-election for the Lok Sabha seat could not be held due to fragile security situation.