Jammu and Kashmir's People's Democratic Party (PDP) Thursday announced its president Mehbooba Mufti would contest from Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency in the 2014 parliamentary polls.
Senior party leader, Tariq Hameed Karra, will contest from Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency, announced party patron Mufti Muhammad Sayeed at a meeting of senior party leaders, legislators and other functionaries from the two constituencies here.
Both Anantnag and Srinagar constituencies are currently held by the state's ruling National Conference. Of the five Lok Sabha seats from the state, two are held by Congress and the others by the National Conference.
A PDP press statement said the names of candidates for Baramulla and Ladakh constituencies are expected to be announced later.
Addressing the meeting, Sayeed said the PDP is aiming at bringing a change in the entire political scenario and the administrative system in the state which, according to him, has been marked by uncertainty and injustice ever since Independence.
He expressed confidence that change will begin taking place in Jammu and Kashmir with the Lok Sabha elections.
Terming democracy the only way that provides resolution to problems, he alleged it was unfortunate that in Jammu and Kashmir, every other method of dubious merit has been tried, but democratic processes were always subverted.
He contended it was with the arrival of the PDP that the institution of member of legislative assembly) as the people's representative came under focus for the first time. "Their voice mattered... people started having expectations from them.
"This also introduced a positive element of public scrutiny, performance audit and accountability of peoples' representatives," said Sayeed, adding it is these new factors in state politics that helped people to elect the right candidate.
"The phase of political monopoly is over and that is a major corrective in our political system," he asserted, noting now the people of the state have now a very clear and easy choice to make between parties while they exercise their right to vote.
Alleging the present Omar Abdullah government has proved to be the worst enemy of the people of the state, he said even an institution like the Board of Professional Entrance Examinations (BOPEE), which deals with the careers and destiny of young boys and girls, has not been spared by the rampant corruption in the state.
"The dreams of these youngsters have been snatched and their hard work sold for money by an insensitive and callous government which is becoming more and more criminal in its conduct," he said.
The board's former chairman Mushtaq Ahmad Peer is being questioned by the state police crime branch in an alleged racket in which test papers for MBBS courses in various colleges in Jammu and Kashmir were sold for hefty sums of money to some candidates who finally made it to the select list for the course in 2012.
