Srinagar, Nov 02: In the first-ever election in Peoples
Conference history, senior politician and former MLA Sajad Gani
Lone was elected as president of the party, which was founded in
1978.
Addressing a news conference here, former minister and head of
the party's election authority, Syed Basharat Bukhari said that
Sajad Gani Lone was today elected unopposed as president of
the party. “We have received eight sets of nominations and all of
them have proposed the name of Sajad Gani Lone for the post,”
he told reporters.
Bukhari said Lone would be administered oath of office on
November 10 in presence of all 732 members of the party's
electoral college.
Bukhari, who was flanked by senior party leaders Peerzada
Mansoor Ahmad and Muhammad Ashraf Mir, said that Lone
would soon constitute his new team.
56-year-old Lone took over as leadership of Peoples Conference
after the assassination of his father Abdul Gani Lone by militants
on May 22, 2002 at Eidgah Srinagar.
Lone contested maiden assembly from Handwara in 2014 and
defeated his nearest rival by around 5000 votes.
Lone, a vocal supporter of J&K's special status, was detained on
August 5, 2019 and was kept in detention for more than a year.
An economics graduate from Cardiff University, Lone was
selected for Chevening Fellowship but he opted out of the
programme due to his engagements.
In 2015, he also featured in the Khaleej Times list of six Indians
who have recently made a mark in their respective fields. The
others in the list included Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi and
Saina Nehwal( athlete).
Lone is married to Asma Khan Lone, who is a postgraduate in
International Relations from Cambridge University. Lone has twin
sons who recently secured admission in the London School of
Economics and the University of California.
