PDP president Mehbooba Mufti filed her nomination papers for the Anantnag Lok Sabha seat on Thursday. She appealed to the people not to boycott the election that was crucial ”for ending the assault that the BJP government made on the dignity and identity of the people of Jammu and Kashmir in 2019”.

Mufti was referring to the abrogation of Article 370 by the Modi government in August 2019.

Accompanied by a large number of supporters, Mufti reached south Kashmir’s Anantnag to file her nomination papers before the Returning Officer Syed Fakhruddin. Before filing her papers, she paid obeisance at the shrine of the Sufi Saint Baba Naseebdin.

Talking to reporters, the former chief minister appealed to the people not to boycott the polls as “this election is about the assault launched on dignity, identity and resources” of Jammu and Kashmir.

“I appeal to all the people of Jammu and Kashmir that they should not boycott the elections. In south Kashmir, they are trying to enforce a boycott. Their conspiracies should be exposed. Vote for the candidate that you feel will raise the voice for oppressed people and for those who have been jailed,” she said.

She said this Lok Sabha election was not about developmental issues like electricity, water and roads. ”This election is for ending the assault that was launched after 2019 on our dignity, identity, assets and resources. It is not about PDP or NC or any other party. The issue right now is that Kashmir has been turned into an open air prison,” she said.

“Today all our resources are being snatched from us and an attempt is being made to turn us into bonded labourers. We will not allow this to happen. This land, and jobs in this land belong to us. We will not allow attacks on our identity,” she added.

Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency will go to polls in the third phase of elections on 7 May. Friday is the last date for filing of nominations in this constituency, which was recently re-carved out from parts of Anantnag, Pulwama and Jammu, Poonch, Rajouri Lok Sabha seats following delimitation exercise carried out in 2022.

Although many other candidates have filed nominations for the seat, the main contest is expected to be between Mufti and National Conference candidate Mian Altaf. Veteran politician and DPAP chairman Ghulam Nabi Azad on Wednesday evening backed out from contesting the election against the two stalwarts. He has now fielded Mohammad Saleem Parray and the Apni Party has named Zaffar Iqbal Manhas.

The BJP is unlikely to field its candidate but the NC and PDP activists were accusing the Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) and Apni party of being proxies of BJP.