Peoples' Democratic Party announces candidates for Jammu and Kashmir Assembly polls

Opposition Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP) on Friday announced the last and final list of 11 candidates for the upcoming Assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir.

The names of 11 candidates were announced after Political Affairs committee (PAC) of the party met under chairmanship of PDP patron and former Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, a party spokesman said.

All the 11 candidates fielded by the party are new faces including Javaid Beigh, nephew of party MP from Baramulla and former Deputy Chief Minister Muzaffar Hussain Beigh.

Javaid will contest from Baramulla constituency which was represented by his uncle since 2002. The party, for the first time, fielded its candidates from Raipur-Domana (Chaman Manyal), Akhnoor (Dev Raj Bhaghat), Chhamb (Madan Lal), Hira Nagar (Suraj Prakash) and Bishnah (Rangeel Singh).

Others who have been given mandate by the party included Subash Sharma, son of former Deputy Chief Minister Mangat Ram Sharma, from Kathua constituency. Sharma, a senior congress leader, joined PDP recently along with his son.

Joy Singh for Billawar, Mohammad Salim Lone for Bani, Noor Mohammad for Batamaloo (Srinagar) and Ali Mohammad Wani for Eidgah (Srinagar) were the other candidates. Meanwhile, the PAC paid tributes to its former vice president and prominent Shia leader Moulvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari who died after a prolonged illness last month.

The meeting offered special prayers for the departed leader and unanimously decided to anoint his son Moulvi Imran Ansari as a member of the PAC, the spokesman said.