SRINAGAR: Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, 67, was re-elected president of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the fifth consecutive term on Thursday, retaining the leadership of the party founded by her late father in 1999.
The election was necessitated by the end of her current term as party president on November 3.
The election was held at the party headquarters in Srinagar. Mehbooba's name was proposed by senior PDP leader Abdul Rehman Veeri and seconded by Khursheed Alam.
With no other candidate in the fray, the party's electoral college unanimously elected Mehbooba as president for another term.
Mehbooba has been leading the party since 2002.
The PDP was founded by Mehbooba's late father, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, along with his close confidants in 1999 to establish an alternative to the Abdullah-led National Conference in Jammu and Kashmir.
A law graduate, Mehbooba entered mainstream politics in 1996 after joining the Congress. She became the first woman Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir in April 2016 and headed the PDP-BJP coalition government until June 2018, when the BJP withdrew its support, bringing down the government.
Mehbooba's re-election as PDP president comes at a time when the party is attempting to revive itself after its worst-ever electoral performance in the 2024 Assembly elections, when it won just four of the 90 Assembly seats.
After losing power in 2018, several senior PDP leaders quit the party and joined other political outfits, weakening its organisational base.
In a bid to regain lost ground, Mehbooba and the PDP have been vocal in their opposition to the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A and have been demanding their restoration.
However, the party's alliance with the BJP in 2015, after contesting the Assembly elections against the saffron party, continues to weigh on its political narrative. Rival parties and sections of the public frequently remind the PDP of its decision to join hands with the BJP and accuse Mehbooba of mishandling the situation following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani in 2016.
With the PDP having lost its traditional stronghold in south Kashmir, it remains to be seen how Mehbooba revives the party, regains public confidence and re-establishes it as a political alternative to the National Conference in the coming years.