Jammu and Kashmir election results: Shia cleric Imran Reza Ansari trails from Pattan constituency
In the 2014 assembly election, Imran Reza Ansari won the Pattan constituency with over 14,000 votes and became a minister in the PDP-BJP coalition government.
Shia cleric and People's Conference leader Imran Reza Ansari was trailing from North Kashmir's Pattan constituency in the early trends, as per the Election Commission. As per the latest data, Jammu and Kashmir National Conference candidate Javaid Riyaz, a former police officer, is leading with a margin of 5,868 votes. Follow live updates
Ansari's family has a rich political legacy in the Pattan constituency. His father, Iftikhar Ansari, was the first to represent the family in this seat, securing victory on a Congress ticket in 1983. However, in 1987, the seat was won by Shia leader Aga Mehmood, but Iftikhar returned to power as a Congress candidate in 1996. He later joined the National Conference (NC), winning again in 2002.
In 2006, Iftikhar transitioned to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) but lost the seat in a by-election to NC's Mustafa Kamal. Nonetheless, he regained the seat in 2008 as a Peoples Democratic Party candidate.
Imran Reza Ansari's political journey
Following Kamal's death, Imran Ansari successfully contested the seat in 2014, representing the PDP. He finished his matriculation at Tyndale Biscoe School in Srinagar.
He then attended Jamia Millia Islamia, where he studied arts for his bachelor's degree and later earned a master's degree in political science from the same university.
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In the 2014 assembly election, Imran Reza Ansari won Pattan constituency with more than 14,000 votes. After the PDP formed new government in coalition with BJP, he became the minister for information technology, technical education, youth services and sports.
He has also been the president of the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA). On July 16, 2016, Ansari ended Farooq Abdullah's long tenure of over 30 years when he was elected president of the association.
Ansari has opposed J&K LG Manoj Sinha on several issues, saying that the LG administration has not worked well for the people.
In July 2023, Ansari walked out of a meeting after the chief secretary interrupted him while he was questioning the administration's alleged lack of enthusiasm for Muharram.