J-K Assembly Elections: Mehbooba Mufti's Daughter Iltija Mufti To Make Electoral Debut (image:x.com/IltijaMufti)

Iltija Mufti, daughter of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief and former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti will be making her electoral debut in the upcoming Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections. On Monday, the party has nominated constituencies in-charge for eight Assembly constituencies of south Kashmir and she is one among them.

Iltija will field from Bijbehara assembly segment, a traditional stronghold of the Mufti family. She has replaced senior party leader Abdul Rehman Veeri, who represented the constituency from 1999 to 2018. Veeri will now field from Anantnag East.

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Mehbooba Mufti made her electoral debut in 1996 from the constituency on a Congress ticket. Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, Mehbooba’s father and Iltija’s grandfather, won the election from the constituency in 1967. Iltija is the third generation member from Mufti family to contest polls from Bijbehara.

“It’s an honour. The people of Jammu and Kashmir have been facing a grind due to policies implemented by the Centre. Whenever the party assigned me a job, I tried my best. If the party wants me to step up, I will,” The Hindu reports as Mufti is saying.

Iltija emerged as a party’s important face in the political sphere when Mehbooba Mufti  was imprisoned following the abrogation of Article 370. She was seen campaigning for her mother’s release and later filled in as media adviser for PDP chief. Iltija was also active in the campaigns for Mufti during the Lok Sabha election earlier this year.

Since Mufti is attending her ailing mother, she is unlikely to contest Assembly elections, according to reports. In the Lok Sabha elections, Mehbooba lost from Anantnag-Rajouri seat in South Kashmir.

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The other leaders who were made constituencies in-charge by the PDP are Waheed Rehman Parra for Pulwama, Dr. Mehboob Beg for the Anantnag, Abdul Rehman Veeri for the Anantnag East, Sartaj Madani for the Devsar, G.N. Lone Hanjura for Charar-e-Shareef, Ghulam Mohiuddin Wani for Wachi, and Rafiq Ahmad Naik for the Tral. Parra, a youth president of the PDP contested unsuccessfully from the Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency.

The assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir will held on three phases; September 18, 25 and October 1. The counting of votes will take place on October 4. Jammu and Kashmir has been functioning without an elected government for five years now and assembly were last held in 2014.