Mehbooba Mufti Biography

About Mehbooba Mufti

Mehbooba Mufti Sayeed is the president of Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). She is the daughter of PDP founder and former J&K chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. Sayeed died in office on 7 January 2016. Following her father's demise, Mehbooba Mufti is now set to become the first woman Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir. Mehbooba Mufti was a member of the 14th Lok Sabha (2004-2009). She represented the Anantnag constituency of Jammu and Kashmir. In 2014, she was elected again to the 16th Lok Sabha from the same constituency. She was sworn-in as the first woman chief minister of J&K on 4 April, 2016.

Early Life and Political Career

Mehbooba Mufti was born on 22 May, 1959 in Bijbehara town of Jammu & Kashmir's Anantnag district. She earned her law degree from the University of Kashmir.

  Her sister Rubaiya Sayeed as well as her family came in the news in 1989 when Rubaiya was abducted by a terrorist outfit and later released in exchange of three dreaded terrorists in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Their father, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, was India's Home Minister then.

  Mehbooba came in political limelight when she won the 1996 Assembly elections in J&K on Congress ticket from Bijbehara constituency. In 1999, she lost to Omar Abdullah in the parliamentary elections. But Mehbooba made her mark quickly as a fierce opposition leader. When her father Mufti Mohammad split from the Congress to launch the Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party in 1999, she became the party's vice-president.

  Mehbooba Mufti won the Pahalgam constituency in the 2002 Assembly polls. She contested from Anantnag seat successfully in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections. In the 2014 general elections, she won the Anantnag-Pulwama seat again for another five years' term. She defeated National Conference’s Mirza Mehboob Beg by a margin of 44,735 votes. While she won 1,42,237 votes, Beg got 97,502.

  The PDP and BJP reached an agreement to form government in Jammu & Kashmir after the 2015 Assembly elections. Mufti Mohammad Sayeed took over as the chief minister of the state. Following Mufti's demise in office, Mehbooba became the unanimous choice to take over her father's mantle. The PDP matriarch is now finally set to take over and become the first female chief minister of Jammu & Kashmir.

 

Growing Public Support for Mehbooba Mufti

According to political pundits, currently, there is a strong wave in the PDP’s favour in J&K in the wake of people’s aspirations of bringing about a change in the government in the state.

Recently, Mehbooba had whole-heartedly welcomed Prime Minister Modi’s decision to celebrate the festival of Diwali with the flood affected people in the state. She has continuously criticised the mismanagement of the situation erupted after the floods hit the state, on the part of the ruling Omar Abdullah government. She was the one of the first leaders in J&K who tried to draw attention of the Prime Minister with a memorandum, towards the alleged mishandling of the post-flood situation in the state. She demanded Rs 44000 crore from the Centre for the relief and rehabilitation measures.

Unemployment, favouritism and rampant corruption with regard to the Omar Abdullah government are amongst the most important issues raised her party in the current elections in the state and on almost all these pro-people issues she seems to be drawing considerable support from the people in J&K.
WBSKJ03.11.2014