Mehbooba Mufti

Mehbooba Mufti محبوبہ مُفتی
Member of Parliament (India) for Anantnag
In office 16 May 2014 – 12 January 2016
Preceded by	Mirza Mehboob Beg
In office 16 May 2004 – 16 May 2009
Preceded by	Mirza Mehboob Beg
Succeeded by	Ali Muhammad Naik
Personal details
Born	(1959-05-22) 22 May 1959 Bijbehara, Jammu and Kashmir, India
Nationality	Indian
Political party	Jammu and Kashmir People's Democratic Party
Children	2 daughters
Residence	Sonwar, Srinagar
Alma mater	University of Kashmir (Law)
Occupation	Politician
Website	www.jkpdp.org

Mehbooba Mufti Sayeed (born 22 May 1959 in Akhran Nowpora) is the president of the Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the designate prospective Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, set to take over the reins after her father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed died while in office. Mehbooba Mufti was a member of the 14th Lok Sabha (2004-2009), representing the Anantnag constituency of Jammu and Kashmir. Her party, PDP, failed to win a single seat in Lok Sabha elections in 2009 and she did not contest that year herself. But in 2014, she was elected again to the 16th Lok Sabha from Anantnag constituency. Following the death of her father due to sepsis and multiple organ failure in Delhi, Mehbooba Mufti is set to become the first woman Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir.

Early life

She earned her law degree from the University of Kashmir.

When elections for the state assembly were held in 1996, Mehbooba became one of the most popular members elected from Bijbehara on an Indian National Congress ticket. Her father had at that time returned to the Congress, which he had left in 1987, angry at the alliance that party had formed with its traditional rival in the state, the National Conference. Mehbooba quickly made a mark as the leader of the opposition in the assembly, taking on the government of then chief minister Farooq Abdullah with asperity.

Her sister Rubaiya was famously kidnapped when their father was appointed India's Home Minister in 1989, and released after a few days.

Political career

Mehbooba is one of the few female politicians from Kashmir who is recognized across all India. When Mufti split from the Indian National Congress to form the Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party in 1999, many thought she would be the party president. She deferred to her father's experience, however, and became party vice-president. She resigned her assembly seat and went on to contest the parliamentary elections in 1999 from Srinagar, where she lost to the sitting member Omar Abdullah but won the Pahalgam seat in the state assembly from south Kashmir, defeating Rafi Ahmed Mir, when assembly elections were held again in 2002. She has been elected to the Lok Sabha from Anantnag seat in 2004 and 2014.

External links

• Official biographical sketch in Parliament of India website
• State Assembly hall security remove opposition People's Democratic Party

Lok Sabha
Preceded by Ali Mohammed Naik	Member of Parliament for Anantnag 2004–2009	Succeeded by Mirza Mehboob Beg
Preceded by Mirza Mehboob Beg	Member of Parliament for Anantnag 2014–present	Incumbent
Party political offices
Preceded by	Leader of the Jammu and Kashmir People's Democratic Party in the 16th Lok Sabha 2014–present	Incumbent

{{Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Designate}}