Zaffar welcomes rescheduling of Anantnag-Rajouri polls, says open to BJP support

Kulgam, May 01: Zaffar Iqbal Manhas, the Apni Party candidate for the Anantnag-Rajouri seat, on Wednesday said he welcomes the decision to reschedule the polling date of the Anantnag-Rajouri parliamentary constituency. He said there is nothing wrong if any party, including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), extends support to his party.
Appreciating the Election Commission of India (ECI), Manhas said that candidates can now reach out to people and present their programmes and manifestos. This, he said, will allow voters to understand all manifestos and decide on their preferred candidate.
“In a contest, one would never want any other candidate to surpass them; rather, we would prefer the other candidate to remain behind. Apni Party is performing strongly in the elections,” Manhas responded to questions about other parties suggesting the Apni Party doesn’t want to face strong competition.
He claimed that the Apni Party holds the top position, while the National Conference and People’s Democratic Party (PDP) are competing for the second position.
When asked about BJP’s rumoured support to the Apni Party and its impact, Zaffar said there is no negative impact of having BJP’s support and that no one remembers negative impacts when other parties like the National Conference have alliances. “We are ready to accept support from any party. If we receive support from any party, what’s wrong with that?” he added.