Against the backdrop of continuing violence in Jammu and Kashmir, the ruling PDP has urged the Election Commission to defer indefinitely the bypoll to the Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency.
Tassaduq Hussain, PDP candidate for the bypoll who is brother of Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, made the plea during a video conference with Election Commission officials yesterday.
"Hussain asked the Election Commission to defer the bypoll to Anantnag Lok Sabha seat indefinitely till the situation is conducive for the elections there," PDP general secretary Nizamuddin Bhat said today.
The EC had organised the video conference with all the contesting candidates to ascertain their views about holding of elections to the constituency on May 25.
The bypoll was earlier scheduled to be held on April 12 but was postponed following large scale violence during polling in Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency on April 9 that left nine people dead.
The bypoll to the Srinagar constituency saw the lowestturnout of 7.1 per cent. It was won by National Conference's Farooq Abdullah.
Anantnag Lok Sabha seat had fallen vacant after Mehbooba became the Chief Minister last year following the death of her father Mufti Sayeed.
Besides protest by civilains and stone-pelting incidents, militants have also targeted political workers and leaders in the state. Yesterday, Abdul Gani Dar, the Pulwama unit president of the PDP, was shot at by the militants in Pinglena village of Pulwama district.
A PDP worker was killed in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district when suspected militants barged into his house and opened fire on April 15.
On April 17, militants had shot dead a former public prosecutor affiliated with opposition National Conference in Shopian district.
