Abdul Majeed Larmi Gears Up for Anantnag West Battle as J&K Prepares for First Post-Delimitation Assembly Elections

Sameer Ahmad

Anantnag, August 29: Ahead of the much-anticipated Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, politicians vying for seats have begun ramping up their campaigns with rallies and roadshows across their constituencies in a bid to win the upcoming elections.

One of these politicians is Abdul Majeed Larmi, known as Maj Lal, who was born in 1961 in the village of Larm Ganjipora, located about 6 km from the main town of Anantnag. Larmi comes from a politically connected family; his grandfather, Abdul Kabeer Bhat, was a key leader of the Muslim Conference in 1931.

Larmi’s father, Gh Mohiuddin Bhat, was a basic member of the National Conference (NC). However, in 1986, his father passed away after a brief illness. Majeed Larmi began his political journey in 1988 when he was appointed the youth president for the districts of Kulgam and Anantnag by the National Conference.

From 1988 to 2008, Larmi was primarily involved in internal party work. In 2008, the National Conference gave him the mandate to contest the Assembly election in the Homeshalibug constituency. At that time, PDP’s Gaffar Sofi was his main opponent, and Larmi lost the election by a margin of nearly 1,800 votes.

In 2014, Larmi was once again given the mandate by the National Conference to contest the Assembly election in Homshalibug. This time, he won by a margin of about 1,600 votes.

During the 2014 Assembly polls, the National Conference remained in opposition as the PDP emerged as the single-largest party with 28 seats, although it fell short of the majority mark of 44 in the 87-member House. All of the PDP’s seats were in the Kashmir province. The BJP followed with 25 seats, all in the Jammu region, and supported the PDP in forming a coalition government.

Speaking to Press Trust of Kashmir (PTK), in year 2017, Larmi voiced his opposition to the GST bill, arguing that its passage would pave the way for the implementation of Article 360 of the Indian Constitution, which he believed contradicted Article 370. In 2019, following the abrogation of Article 370, Larmi spent several months in jail.

Anantnag West Constituency

As Jammu and Kashmir prepares for its first Assembly election in a decade, this will also be the first election after the delimitation process. Political parties are ready to contest the polls, but the delimitation has significantly redrawn previous electoral boundaries in District Anantnag. The Anantnag West Constituency is a new constituency post-delimitation, with about 126,000 voters.

Abdul Majeed Larmi is among ten candidates contesting the Assembly election in the Anantnag West constituency.