For the first time in the electoral history of Jammu and Kashmir, a non-state subject is contesting Lok Sabha elections from the Anantnag parliamentary constituency.
Shams Khwaja of Noida in Uttar Pradesh, a lawyer by profession is among the eighteen candidates whose nomination papers were accepted by the district election officer of Anantnag.
Khwaja’s nominations as an independent candidate
However, in his
“Of the twenty candidates only two nominations were rejected after scrutiny, but Khwaja is not among them,” an official said.
He said that with no withdrawal of nomination by the close of deadline eighteen candidates are in the fray for the Anantnag seat.
“All 18 candidates whose nominations were cleared after the scrutiny
“If elected to Lok Sabha, I will fight for the disinformation campaign in the country against Article 370 and 35A that grants special status to JK,” Khwaja told reporters after filing his nomination papers.
Khwaja also says demanding plebiscite was a right of the people of Kashmir.
The candidates in the fray are Hassnain Masoodi of Jammu Kashmir NC, Mehbooba Mufti of PDP, GA Mir of Congress, Sofi Yousuf of BJP, Ghulam Ahmad, , Chaudhary Zaffar Ali of People’s Conference, Nisar Ahmad Wani of JK National Panthers Party, Sanjay Kumar Dhar of Manav Adhikar Party, Surinder Singh of Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) and Ridwana Sanam ; Imtiyaz Ahmad Rather, Riyaz Ahmad Bhat, Zubair Masoodi, Shamas Khwaja ( non-state subject), Ali Mohammad Wani, Gh Mohammad Wani,
In a first, polling for the Anantnag seat will be held in three phases due to
In Anantnag district, the polling will be held on April 23, in Kulgam district on April 29 and finally in Pulwama and Shopian districts on May 6.