Lok Sabha Polls: Ex-MLA, Jailed On UAPA Charges, To Contest Baramulla Seat On Awami Ittehad Party Ticket

In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, Rashid contested from Baramulla and finished the poll race in the third position.

Lok Sabha Elections: The Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) said on Wednesday that Abdul Rashid Sheikh, known as Engineer Rashid, who is in jail in a terror-funding case, is set to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from Baramulla.

"The political affairs committee of the AIP decided that we will field Engineer Rashid from the Baramulla Lok Sabha constituency," party spokesperson Firdous Baba said, as quoted by PTI. He further stated that the AIP is hopeful that Rashid will be released from prison before the Lok Sabha election.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, the 56-year-old former MLA from Handwara contested from Baramulla and finished the poll race in the third position.

According to an AIP spokesperson, if Rashid is not released, it has been decided that he will still contest the polls from the jail. "Our Constitution allows an accused person who is not convicted to contest elections from jail as well," he added, as quoted by PTI.

Rashid was arrested in August 2019 and later chargesheeted by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) under various sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in October 2019. In its chargesheet, the central probe agency said "the role of Engineer Rashid in the conspiracy" was to "destabilise Kashmir and cause unrest," as reported by PTI.

Rashid, who was a MLA from the Langate Assembly seat in north Kashmir, is the first mainstream politician to have been arrested by the NIA in the case. His name came to light during the interrogation of businessman Zahoor Watali, who was arrested by the probe agency for allegedly supplying money to terror groups and separatists in the Valley.

According to officials, the NIA had registered the case against separatist and secessionist leaders, including unknown members of the Hurriyat Conference, who were acting in connivance with active terrorists of proscribed outfits Hizbul Mujahideen, Dukhtaran-e-Millat, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and other groups and gangs.

The case was registered for raising, receiving, and collecting funds through various illegal means, including hawala, to finance separatist and terrorist activities in Jammu and Kashmir and for causing disruption in the Valley by way of pelting stones at security forces, burning down schools, damaging public property, and waging war against India, the probe agency had said in the FIR.