New J&K Assembly features 13 MLAs with political lineage

At least 13 newly elected MLAs in J&K come from political families whose members have won or contested elections in the past, with the National Conference accounting for the maximum number of such legislators.

The NC, which has emerged as the single largest party in the Assembly elections, is said to form the government and had fought the polls in an alliance with the Congress.

CM-designate Omar Abdullah is a third generation legislator from the Abdullah clan. His father Farooq Abdullah and grandfather Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah have both been MLAs as well as J&K CMs.

J&K Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) president Tariq Hameed Karra comes from an influential political family of Srinagar. Although his grandfather Ghulam Mohiuddin Karra was never an MLA, he held considerable influence in the NC till he parted ways with Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah in 1954 to form his own party — Political Conference.

However, the man expected to have a bright political future among the second generation politicians is Salman Sagar, who has been elected from Hazratbal. Salman’s father, Ali Mohammad Sagar, will be sitting in the front row of the treasury benches in the Assembly having won a record seventh straight term as an MLA — twice from erstwhile Batamaloo seat and five times from Khanyar segment.

A key player in tribal politics of Kashmir, Mian Altaf Ahmad — Anantnag-Rajouri MP — has been replaced as the Kangan MLA by his son Mian Mehar Ali. The 67-year-old Lok Sabha member would have been vying for a sixth straight term if he was not elected to the Lok Sabha earlier this year.

Mian Altaf Ahmad’s brother-in-law Zafar Ali Khatana was elected from Kokernag, which has been reserved for the STs.

Hilal Akbar Lone, the son of former Assembly speaker Mohammad Akbar Lone, has been elected from the Sonawari seat. The senior Lone was a member from the Sonawari seat three times from 2002 to 2018.

NC chief spokesman Tanvir Sadiq, who was elected from Zadibal assembly segment, is the son of former MLA Sadiq Ali while party’s MLA from Uri Sajjad Shafi is the son of former Education Minister Mohammad Shafi Uri.

Irshad Rasool Kar, who won on the National Conference ticket from Sopore assembly segment, is the son of veteran Congress leader and former JKPCC chief Ghulam Rasool Kar.

The MLA from Srigufwara-Bijbehara Bashir Ahmad Veeri is the son of former minister Abdul Gani Shah Veeri while Lal Chowk MLA Sheikh Ahsan Ahmad is the son of former MLC Sheikh Ghulam Qadir Pardesi.

Outside the National Conference (NC)-Congress alliance, PDP MLA Rafeeq Ahmad Naik, who won from the Tral segment, is the son of former speaker and National Conference leader Ali Mohammad Naik and Langate MLA Khursheed Ahmad Sheikh is the brother of Lok Sabha member from Baramulla, Sheikh Abdul Rashid alias Engineer Rashid.

CM-designate 3rd-Gen legislator

CM-designate Omar Abdullah is a third generation legislator from the Abdullah clan. His father Farooq Abdullah and grandfather Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah have both been MLAs as well as the chief ministers of Jammu and Kashmir.