Srinagar: As the filing of nomination papers for Budgam by-elections has ended, there are 17 candidates in the fray as three nominations were rejected during the scrutiny process.
Officials said that a total of 20 candidates had filed their nomination papers for the by-election but nominations of three candidates were rejected during the scrutiny process. The scrutiny of the nomination papers was conducted on Wednesday under the supervision of election authorities.
All the major parties, NC, PDP, BJP, Apni Party, AAP, AIP besides several independents are in the fray, sources said.
Of 17 candidates whose nominations have been accepted for the bypoll in Budgam Assembly constituency, nine are crorepatis, three have criminal cases, while only eight have passed class 12.
Twenty candidates submitted their nominations for the November 11 bypoll, however, nominations of only 17, including seven independents, were accepted.
Of these 17, National Conference (NC) candidate Aga Syed Mehmood is the richest with total assets of more than Rs 15 crore.
A businessman and a former minister, Mehmood has disclosed having Rs 28.02 lakh in movable property and Rs 15 crore in immovable holdings, comprising agricultural, commercial, and residential properties in Budgam.
The 69-year-old also has liabilities of Rs 97.69 lakh, mainly loans against property.
He has reported an annual income of over Rs 52 lakh in the Income Tax Return filed for the year 2024-25.
Apni Party’s Mukhtar Ahmad has declared total assets of Rs 9 crore and liabilities of Rs 6.59 crore.
Other crorepati candidates in the fray, who have declared assets of over Rs 1 crore, are independents Mukhtar Ahmad Bhat, Muntazir Mohi-ud-Din, Nazir Khan, and Aditi Sharma, and BJP candidate Aga Syed Mohsin, National Panthers Party (Bhim) candidate Farooq Ahmad, and Pervez Ahmad of the Republican Party of India.
PDP candidate Aga Syed Muntazir Mehdi has declared assets of Rs 2.37 lakh only in the form of bank deposits.
With no immovable property, Mehdi emerged as one of the least wealthy candidates in the fray.
Two candidates have assets lower than Rs 1 lakh — Jibran Dar, who declared Rs 60,000 in cash and Rs 5.19 lakh in liabilities, and Manzoor Ahmad of Rashtriya Lok Dal, who declared Rs 30,000 in cash and Rs 22,400 in liabilities.
Five candidates have done a Master’s or more, with one candidate, Maqbool Bhat, an independent, having a PhD in astrophysics.
Two candidates have engineering degrees, one has an MBA, and one LLM.
Three candidates have studied up to class 12, two till class 10, and two till class 8.
A majority of the candidates declared having no criminal record.
Three candidates have pending cases.
Apni Party’s Ahmad has a cheating case against him, BJP’s Mohsin has a case of assault and preventing a public servant from discharging his duty, while independent candidate Jibran Dar has a case under Section 132 of the Representation of the People’s Act.
A bypoll in Budgam was necessitated after Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who won the last election from two places, vacated the seat. The scrutiny of the nomination papers took place on Wednesday and Friday is the last day for the withdrawal of nomination.
