engineer-rashid-s-party-aip-to-contest-j-k-assembly-polls

The Awami Ittehad Party (AIP), which came up with a surprise win after its jailed leader Sheikh Abdul ‘Engineer’ Rashid, contesting as an independent, won the Baramulla Lok Sabha seat in J&K defeating political heavyweight Omar Abdullah, has announced it will contest in the upcoming state elections held later in 2024.

 

Ishtiyaq Qadri, chairman of AIP’s political affairs committee, said on Thursday that the party is now seeking candidates with clean records.

 

“People in the Valley are tired of traditional political parties and are looking for a change,” he told reporters.

 

The AIP plans to contest all seats in the Kashmir Valley and also in the Pir Panjal and Chenab regions of Jammu.

 

 Qadri mentioned that the party had set its sights on several seats in Jammu as well.

 

While having a conversation with the reporter here, he said the party would field candidates for all seats in the Valley.

 

“Apart from that, we are also planning to field candidates in parts of the Jammu region like Rajouri, Poonch, and Kathua,” he said. “We will again surprise the big players in politics in the upcoming polls.”

 

The party rests its hopes on the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections where Rashid secured 15 out of 18 Assembly segments in the Baramulla constituency.

 

Rashid contested as an independent candidate and defeated the grand old party’s seasoned politician Omar Abdullah with over two lakh votes, also handing a crushing defeat to separatist turned politician Sajad Gani Lone in his Baramulla constituency.

 

The last Assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir was held in 2014. Since the abrogation of Article 370, the upcoming elections will be the first.

 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has indicated that the elections  will be held soon, promising statehood for J&K.

 

Rashid, who has been in jail since 2019 on charges related to terror funding, is set to be the chief ministerial candidate for the AIP.

 

During the Lok Sabha campaign, AIP focused on Rashid’s release, and for the upcoming Assembly elections, the main issues will be the release of detainees, developmental work, and unemployment.

 

While praising the constitution, Qadri said the party believes in the “Indian Constitution and democracy,” adding, “It is the greatness of the Indian judiciary and democracy that allowed Rashid to contest the Lok Sabha elections despite being in jail.”