J-K Assembly Polls: Sajad Lone To Contest From Kupwara And Handwara Seats; Imran Ansari From Pattan As PC Releases 4th List
Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Elections 2024: Separatist-turned-mainstream politician Sajad Ghani Lone will contest the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly polls from the Handwara and Kupwara constituencies, while prominent Shia cleric Imran Reza Ansari has been fielded from the Pattan Assembly constituency, Lone’s Jammu & Kashmir Peoples’ Conference (JKPC) announced in its fourth list of candidates on Friday.
According to the JKPC list, party chief Sajad Lone has been fielded from Handwara and Kupwara while Maulvi Imran Ansari has been nominated from Pattan– a bastion of his father, late Iftikhar Ansari.
Here’s the 4th list of candidates released by JKPC:
- Sajad Ghani Lone – Handwara
- Sajad Ghani Lone – Kupwara
- Imran Reza Ansari – Pattan
- Adv Bashir Ahmad Dar – Trehgam
- Irfan Pandithpori – Langate
- Dr Naseer Awan – Karnah
- Mudasir Akbar Shah – Lolab
‘PC would back any resolution seeking restoration of Art 370’
Meanwhile, on Thursday, Sajad Lone said his party would back any any resolution in the Jammu and Kashmir legislative assembly that seeks to restore Article 370.
“If there is a resolution in the assembly, we will support it. But, if no one brings it, then we will bring a resolution,” Lone told reporters in Srinagar when asked about his party’s plan on restoration of the special status of J-K which was revoked by the Centre on August 5, 2019.
The PC chief released the party’s manifesto for the assembly elections, promising to fight for the restoration of Article 370 and statehood, as well as for the resolution of the Kashmir issue.
‘All have to agitate’
Passing a resolution on Article 370 in the assembly, Lone added, was just a “moral thing” as special status of J-K can only be restored by Parliament.
On the restoration of Article 35A, Lone said such a provision can be partially restored in the J-K assembly if its statehood is restored. “We can pass some parts of it in the assembly here like Himachal Pradesh did,” he said.
“We will all together have to agitate” for the restoration of Article 370, the separatist-turned-mainstream politician said.
“A day should come where we should all agitate as a part of a federal solution. The problem is in the name. They have defamed Article 370 so much that every normal, unsuspecting Indian thinks that it is perhaps a conspiracy against India, which is not.
“It is a federal arrangement, a federal solution, made with many provinces… and across the world, such arrangements have been there for the last 200 years. I believe as the Indian democracy evolves, a day will come when we will have a federal solution at par with (Article) 370,” he said.
(With PTI inputs)
