Amidst the National Conference (NC) asking people not to vote for proxies of BJP on the three Lok Sabha seats of Kashmir valley, senior party leader Mian Altaf filed his nomination papers for the Anantnag seat as the candidate of the INDIA bloc.

Mian Altaf is an influential spiritual Gujjar leader.

NC vice-president Omar Abdullah and Congress general secretary Ghulam Ahmad Mir accompanied Mian Altaf to the Returning Officer’s office for filing the papers.

Abdullah told media-persons that, “We are hopeful that Mian Altaf will emerge victorious”.

Reacting to Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s statement on destruction caused by gun culture in Jammu and Kashmir, Abdullah said the National Conference has been the worst victim of violence.

“We know very well where the gun culture came from. No party has been a bigger victim of this gun culture than the National Conference. We have lost more than 4,000 senior activists, party office bearers and former legislators,” he said.

On former chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad withdrawing from the contest in Anantnag Lok Sabha seat, Abdullah said he knew about it beforehand. “We knew that he would not contest. He did not contest from his Doda seat, why would he contest from Anantnag. Now his party has fielded a new candidate. How much support they have among the people you will come to know,” he said.

On the BJP not fielding any candidates on the three seats in the valley, the NC leader said, “There are still 24 hours left. Who knows they might just do it!”

He earlier had said that the BJP was busy fielding proxies against them, adding that ”if what BJP is saying is correct then why are they not announcing any candidates for the three seats in the valley”.

“On one hand, the BJP claims that there has been progress, and everyone is happy, construction and development is the order of the day, employment has increased. No one is angry and everyone is happy after 5 August 2019, but then the same BJP does not field its candidates here, but are busy fielding their local proxies and making alliances,” he pointed out.

Abdullah also cautioned the people and said that the BJP was not in the field in the Valley but voting for its proxies here will be like voting for the saffron party.

Mir said that PDP president Mehbooba Mufti contesting the polls from Anantnag was not a setback for the INDIA bloc.