Former MLA Devsar passes away

Qazigund, Nov 30: Ghulam Hassan Parray, a former Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Devsar, who won the 1972 elections as an independent candidate, passed away on Saturday at the age of 95 in his ancestral village of Shampora, Qazigund, in Anantnag district.
Parray had secured his historic victory in the 1972 assembly elections by defeating Congress candidate Manhor Nath Koul with a margin of 1,351 votes. It was the only election he contested during his political career.
Hundreds of people from various walks of life attended his funeral prayers held at his ancestral graveyard in Shampora on Saturday morning.
Basharat Saleem Parray, his grandson, told Rising Kashmir that the late leader had been briefly unwell before passing away peacefully at home.
He said, “Parray Sahab contested the 1972 elections as an independent candidate against a strong Congress opponent. Despite the odds, the people of the then-vast Devsar constituency, which included Qazigund, chose him as their representative.”
In the 1972 elections, Parray secured 9,406 votes, while Congress candidate Manhor Nath Koul garnered 8,055 votes. Jamaat-e-Islami candidate Mohammad Afzal Malik finished third with 1,375 votes. The elections witnessed a 66.78% voter turnout from a total of 29,854 registered voters.
Basharat said the late leader’s son had contested as an independent candidate in the 2008 assembly elections but could not replicate his father’s success.