LS POLLS-2024 | Azad to contest from Anantnag-Rajouri-Poonch seat

Srinagar, Apr 2:  Former chief minister and the Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) Chairman Ghulam Nabi Azad will contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls from Anantnag-Rajouri constituency, the party said on Tuesday.

Addressing a news conference in Srinagar, DPAP Treasurer and former minister Taj Mohiuddin said that the party had decided to field Azad as its Lok Sabha candidate from Anantnag-Rajouri seat.

Azad parted ways with the Congress after 50 years.

“Today the core committee of DPAP met and we decided that the party president Ghulam Nabi Azad will contest the Anantnag-Rajouri seat,” he said.

Azad is fighting the Lok Sabha polls for the first time after the loss in 2014 elections from Udhampur constituency. Mohiuddin also talked about a potential alliance with Altaf Bukhari’s Apni Party saying that talks had not progressed due to time constraints.

“We are short of time and there was not much headway in talks. So it is better they do their bit and we do ours. They were not in any case interested in the Anantnag seat,” he said. On Monday, the National Conference (NC) announced that former minister and ex-legislator from Kangan, Mian Altaf will be the party candidate from this constituency.