Mehbooba to file nomination papers for by-poll tomorrow

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti will file nomination papers for the June 19 by-poll to Anantnag Assembly constituency tomorrow.
Mehbooba, who is currently a Lok Sabha member from the South Kashmir Constituency, is contesting the elections from Anantnag Assembly seat where by-polls were necessitated due to the death of her father and then Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed in January 7 this year.
To remain the Chief Minister, the 56-year-old PDP leader needs to become an MLA or MLC within the mandatory period of six months of her swearing-in.
"Mehbooba will file her nomination papers before the returning officer for the Anantnag Assembly seat tomorrow," a PDP leader said.

The last date for filing of nominations is June 1 while scrutiny of papers will be conducted the next day. The candidates can withdraw their nomination till June 4.
The voting will be held on June 19 and counting of votes on June 22.

The EC had earlier scheduled the bypoll to this seat along with eight other Assembly constituencies for May 16 but it was postponed after the state government sought so, saying the law and order situation was "not conducive".
Mehbooba had earlier been elected to the state Assembly three times in the past 20 years with her first victory coming in 1996 elections from Bijbehara segment as a Congress candidate.

She resigned from the House in 1999 when Mufti Sayeed floated regional People's Demoratic Party along with her.
She won the 2002 assembly polls from Pahalgam segment in Anantnag district but resigned two years later after she was elected to the Lok Sabha from south Kashmir. Her father won the by-poll to Pahalgam seat held that year.
She won the 2008 assembly elections from Wachi assembly segment in south Kashmir Shopian district and completed first full six-year term in the House till 2014.
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Mehbooba said India and Pakistan have been engaged in hostilities over the last six decades on the issue of Jammu and Kashmir.

"These hostilities make the people of J&K their prime targets. But my government is looking for a way forward," the Chief Minister said.
She recalled that Hurriyat leaders, in a meeting with the then Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani, had agreed that they will come up with a roadmap for resolving the vexed Kashmir issue.
"We want the process of dialogue and reconciliation started again so that peace is restored in the state. My sole ambition is to pull out people from the vortex of violence and address the issue of under development in Jammu and Kashmir," she said.

She said a "fruitful dialogue" between India and Pakistan took place during the first tenure of her father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed as Chief Minister in 2002.
After the tenure of that government led by PDP, "no progress was made and all the measures taken to restore peace in the state were pushed into oblivion," Mehbooba said and attacked National Conference, saying "the Opposition need not remind us what we have to do."
She said the agenda of her government is to nudge India and Pakistan towards starting a meaningful dialogue on Jammu and Kashmir so that the three-decade period of violence in the state comes to an end and the region enters into a new era of peace and prosperity.

A meaningful dialogue between India and Pakistan on Jammu and Kashmir is part of 'Agenda of the Alliance' of the PDP-BJP government which is a comprehensive document for resolution of all issues faced by the State.
"If we want peace and prosperity in J&K and if India and Pakistan want to prosper, it will not happen by waging proxy wars or direct wars, or allegations and counter allegations, it will happen if the two countries sit around a table and resolve their differences," she said.
The Chief Minister said a large chunk of population in both India and Pakistan, living in abject poverty, don't get access to basic amenities like healthcare and education.

"The budget spent by two countries on purchasing arms can easily be diverted to building social infrastructure and helping the poor and disadvantaged if the two countries resolve their differences," she said.