Ghulam Nabi Azad to contest from Anantnag,may face Mehbooba

The Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) declared that its president, former Union Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, will be contesting the Lok Sabha polls from the Anantnag-Rajouri parliamentary constituency. Azad, as a candidate of DPAP, will be taking on the National Conference’s veteran leader Mian Altaf Ahmad, who is the INDIA bloc candidate. Mian Altaf’s candidature has, in fact, concluded the chances of a pre-poll alliance between the National Conference and Mehbooba Mufti’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The Congress has been carrying on negotiations over several months between the National Congress and the PDP to reach an election deal. However, Mehbooba Mufti is unwilling to give up Anantnag, which had been a bastion of the PDP. The party is likely to announce the former CM’s name as the candidate for the seat. Mufti has told that her party would contest all three Lok Sabha seats in the Valley.