Congress Chief Tariq Hameed Karra Bags Central Shalteng Seat
In Central Shalteng assembly seat, JKPCC Chief Tariq Hameed Karra secured victory by defeating independent candidate Muhammad Irfan Shah by a margin of 14,395 votes. This election marked Karra’s first election after joining Congress in 2017. He took over the role of Congress Chief replacing former Minister Vikar Rasool Wani in August this year.
Karra quit Mehbooba Multi-led Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2016, expressing ideological disagreements with the party – especially their unholy alliance with the BJP. A few months after resignation, he joined the grand old party in 2017. Soon, Karra was nominated as the Congress Working Committee (CWC) member and was entrusted with strengthening the party within the region.
Karra, the veteran leader, was one of the founding member of the PDP. He was the first general secretary of the party when it was launched in 1999 by Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. His influential role in the party’s growth in Srinagar was counted noteworthy.
In 2004 byelection, Tarra made his electoral debut from Batmaloo Assembly constituency. The seat was left vacant due to death of National Conference (NC) leader Ghulam Mohiuddin Shah. In the polls, Karra received 6856 votes. He defeated NC’s Irfan Ahmed Shah by a margin of 3,268 votes.
Over the course of years, Karra emerged as the PDP’s face in Srinagar as well as a close associate of Sayeed. His position further solidified during his term as Finance Minister under Sayeed-led PDP-Congress coalition government during 2002-08.
In the 2014 Assembly election, Karra lauded as ‘Man of the Match’. He secured 1,57,923 votes in the polls and defeated NC patriarch Dr Farooq Abdullah by a margin 42,280 votes.
