29-year-old Shagun Parihar youngest among newly elected MLA

Srinagar, Oct 11: BJP’s 29-year-old Shagun Parihar is the youngest member of the newly elected Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly, while National Conference veteran Abdul Rahim Rather aged 80 is the oldest member.

Parihar, who lost her father and uncle in a terror attack in 2018, is the only member of the assembly below the age of 30 while Rather, the seven-time MLA from Chara-e-Sharief, is the only octogenarian in the house, data compiled by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) reveals.

According to the ADR data, the average age of an MLA in Jammu and Kashmir is 55.71 years, which is reflected in the number of legislators with 32 falling in the age group of 51 to 60 years.

Among the 10 youngest newly-elected MLAs are PDP’s Waheed Para (Pulwama), Aam Admi Party’s Mehraj Malik (Doda), NC’s Mehar Ali (Kangan), independent Rameshwar Singh (Bani) and BJP’s Sunil Bharadwaj (Ramnagar).

Congress MLA from Bandipora Nizamuddin Bhat at 77 is the second oldest member followed by CPI(M)’s Kulgam MLA Muhammad Yousuf Tarigami who is 75 years old.

National Conference’s (NC) Eidgah MLA Mubarak Gul aged 73, while Beerwah MLA Mohammad Shafi Wani (NC), Pattan MLA Javaid Riyaz (NC) and Anantnag MLA P M Sayeed (Congress) are all 71.

The other elected septuagenarians include NC’s Hasnain Masoodi (Pampore), BJP’s Surjit Slathia (Samba) and his party colleague Baldev Raj (Shri Mata Vaishno Devi).

According to ADR, 23 MLAs are between the ages of 41 and 50 years, while 22 members are in the age group of 61 to 70 years. Six MLAs are aged below 40, including Parihar, the first-time legislator from the Kishtwar seat in Jammu region.

The polls right body also found that there has been no change in the composition of the assembly in terms of gender ratio.

There were three women MLAs in the last assembly which was dissolved in the 2018 elections and the number has remained unchanged this year too.

In 2014, NC’s Shamima Firdous and PDP’s Asiea Naqash were the only two women to get elected but PDP President Mehbooba Mufti joined them in the House after getting elected in the 2016 bypoll held after the death of her father and then chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.

Shamima Firdous has retained her Habba Kadal seat while Sakina Masood managed to regain the D H Pora seat which she had lost in the 2014 elections.

Debutant Parihar from Kishtwar has joined them this year.

In the poll results declared by the Election Commission on Tuesday, the alliance of the NC and Congress, who are constituents of the opposition grouping INDIA bloc, won 48 of the 90 seats at stake. The BJP with 29 seats emerged as the second largest party improving its all-time high tally of 25 in the 2014 elections.