Srinagar:

Radical jailed separatist leader Sarjan Ahmad Wagay is set to take on former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah from the Ganderbal constituency in the upcoming Assembly elections. His nomination papers have been accepted from two assembly constituencies – Ganderbal and Beerwah. 

Omar Abdullah, however, on Friday alleged that the BJP and central government were putting up the jailed separatist against him so that he would be defeated in assembly elections.

In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the NC’s vice president was defeated by Engineer Rashid, who is lodged in Delhi’s Tihar jail on terror funding charges.

“Leaders in Delhi dislike me. But the fact that they hate me so much is getting evident to me. Why are candidates in jail only contesting against me,” Mr Abdullah said.

He said he now smells a rat even in Engineer Rashid’s Lok Sabha victory from the Baramulla parliament seat. 

“I never saw a plot in the victory of Engineer Rashid, who had contested elections earlier too. But when the news came about Sarjan Barkati contesting from Ganderbal, I could see a plot,” he said.

“Some agencies felt that I may also contest from Beerwah, where I won the last time. He (Barkati) was first asked to file from Ganderbal and then from Beerwah. I circumvented them and filed from Budgam instead of Beerwa” he said.

The separatist cleric, also known as Sarjan Barkati, was the face of 2016 violent agitations in Kashmir after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in 2016.

In his speeches, he openly incited youth to pick up guns, asking them to become suicide bombers. He also used to say that guns were the only solution and called for attacks on symbols of India.

He was first arrested in 2016 and a case was filed against him under the Public Safety Act. He was again arrested last year and is facing charges under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

His wife is also in jail on terror funding charges.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Wednesday rejected the nomination papers of the fiery cleric Sarjan Ahmad Wagay in Jammu and Kashmir’s south Kashmir’s Shopian district.

Sarjan Ahmad Wagay alias Sarjan Barkati alias ‘Azadi Chacha’ shot to the limelight in 2016 after the killing of Hizbul poster boy Burhan Wani by the security forces in the Kokernag area of Anantnag district on July 8, 2016.

Barkati through his highly surcharged vitriolic speeches against India incited youth to pick up arms and resort to violence.

He is presently in jail along with his wife in connection with a money laundering case connected to terror funding.

His daughter had filed his nomination papers before the district electoral officer for the Zainpora Assembly seat in the Shopian district on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, the ECI rejected Barkati’s nomination papers together with 23 others for various deficiencies under the election laws.

Former Chief Minister and PDP president, Mehbooba Mufti said on the rejection of Barkati’s nomination papers: “Sorry to hear about the rejection of assembly nomination form of Sarjan Barkati from Zainpora. The Election Commissioner must make the reasons public for this decision. Democracy is a battle of ideas and everyone should be given a chance to participate in it.”

After Barkati’s exit from the electoral arena, there are only four Jamaat-e-Islami ex-members whose fate is yet to be decided by the ECI regarding the acceptance or rejection of their nomination papers.

In another significant development, former chief minister and president of the Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP), Ghulam Nabi Azad has expressed his inability on health grounds to campaign for his party candidates.

Azad also left the choice of withdrawing their names from the electoral fray open to the DPAP candidates who have filed their nomination papers for the assembly elections.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)