Apni Party announces candidates for Srinagar, Anantnag-Rajouri

The party remained silent on its candidate in Baramulla constituency where it is likely to support Peoples Conference’s Sajad Lone.

Addressing a press conference in Srinagar, Apni Party leader Mohammad Dilawar Mir said: “We have not yet decided about the Baramulla seat,” he said.

Manhas, a Pahari writer, hails from south Kashmir’s Shopian, which was earlier part of Anantnag constituency but after delimitation is now part of Srinagar seat.

He was introduced to politics by Peoples Democratic Party when he was appointed as a member of the legislative council in the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir Assembly. He quit the party in 2020 and joined Apni Party.

The candidature of Manhas in Anantnag has added to the complexity as he, too, would vie for the Pahari vote. His candidature is being seen as more of a vote cutter than a serious candidate.

Mir, on the other hand, rose to prominence when he defeated National Conference’s Omar Abdullah in the 2009 Assembly polls from Srinagar’s Sonawar constituency as a PDP candidate. He was a minister in the PDP-BJP government.

Mir, too, has a small vote bank limited to a part of Srinagar city and has little appeal beyond.