As results for the 90-seat Jammu and Kashmir Assembly start coming in, a highly anticipated contest is unfolding in the Ganderbal constituency between jailed separatist leader Sarjan Barkati and former Chief Minister and National Conference (NC) vice-president Omar Abdullah.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Abdullah suffered a loss in Baramulla to Engineer Rashid, who is currently imprisoned in Delhi’s Tihar jail on terror funding charges.
Sarjan Ahmad Wagay, widely known as Sarjan Barkati, gained prominence for leading protests in South Kashmir’s Shopian and Kulgam districts following the 2016 killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani. Barkati is currently incarcerated for allegedly inciting violence during those protests.
Initially, Barkati had filed his nomination for the Zainpora Assembly seat in Shopian, as well as for the Beewah constituency, but his papers were rejected because they lacked the required certificate of oath signed by the jail authorities.
Barkati was first arrested in 2016 under the Public Safety Act (PSA) and was re-arrested last year under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). The State Investigation Agency (SIA) stated that he was detained in August 2023 in connection with FIR No 02/2023, which involved his role in a large-scale fundraising campaign through crowdfunding, raising crores of rupees.
A charge sheet filed against Barkati earlier this year accused him of being an active ideologue and promoter of a terrorist-secessionist network.
The document alleged that Barkati, along with others including family members, conspired to support terrorist and separatist activities through inflammatory speeches. It further noted that his speeches had “incited, instigated, and provoked youth to join terrorist ranks.”
The Ganderbal constituency has long been a National Conference stronghold since 1977, except for the 2002 elections when a PDP candidate won the seat. It has been previously held by Omar Abdullah’s grandfather, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, and his father, Farooq Abdullah. In 2014, NC’s Ishfaq Ahmad Sheikh secured victory in this constituency.
