Awami Ittehad Party fields jailed leader Engineer Rashid from Baramulla LS seat

Srinagar, Apr 29 (PTI) The Awami Ittehad Party on Monday fielded its jailed leader Abdul Rashid Sheikh alias Engineer Rashid from the Baramulla Lok Sabha seat in Jammu and Kashmir.

The office bearers of the party filed the nomination papers on behalf of Rashid before the returning officer for the constituency, which is going to polls on May 20 in the fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections.

The 56-year-old former MLA from Handwara was arrested in 2019 and charged by the National Investigation Agency under various sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), making him the first mainstream politician to be booked under the anti-terror law.

He is currently in Delhi’s Tihar jail.

Rashid was first elected to the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly from the Langate segment in 2008 and was reelected from the same seat in 2014.

He had contested the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from Baramulla constituency and stood third.

National Conference leader and former chief minister Omar Abdullah and People’s Conference president Sajad Gani Lone are the other candidates from Baramulla.