The People's Democratic Party (PDP) on Saturday re-elected Mehbooba Mufti as party president for the sixth consecutive time.
Mehbooba's name was proposed by Jammu and Kashmir Finance Minister Haseen Drabu, which was seconded by Falail Singh from Jammu.
In all, 270 PDP members of the party's electoral college, including top leadership to the zonal presidents, participated in the elections at Mehbooba's residence at Gupkar Road.
Since nobody contested her, Mehbooba was elected unopposed.
“The PDP electoral college unanimously elected Mehbooba as the president for the sixth time in succession,” said senior PDP leader and Mehbooba's uncle Sartaj Madni.
He said the party reposed faith in her because only she can steer it out of the difficult situation it is facing in the state currently.
“'We have faith in her leadership qualities,” Madni said. “She has done it in the past and she can do it again.''
Mehbooba thanked her colleagues for re-electing her as president for the sixth time.
''I am thankful to all of you for giving me another chance to serve the party,'' she said. ''Today, we are missing Mufti Sahab, Moulvi Ifthikar Hussian Ansari and Zargar sahab.'' Several PDP leaders came to congratulate her.
Former chief minister and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah also congratulated her in a tweet. Mehbooba replied: “Thank you.”
The PDP was headed and founded by Mehbooba's father late Mufti Mohammed Sayeed in 1999.
Mehbooba won her first elections to the assembly from Bijebehara in 1996 as a Congress candidate.
But after the formation of the PDP, she took up the cause of alleged human rights abuses by the security forces and struck a chord with the people.
In 2002 elections, the PDP won 17 seats largely because of her efforts and formed the first non-NC government with Congress after 30 years.
In 2003, Mehbooba was elected president of the PDP for the first time and since then she has faced no competition or opposition from anybody in the party.
After Mufti's death in January 2016, Mehbooba didn't take oath as chief minister due to rising anger against the PDP for allying with the BJP deemed anti Muslim in Kashmir.
Mehbooba felt compelled to take oath as new chief minister of the state on April 4, 2016, after it became clear that some PDP leaders were ready to form the government with the BJP by sidelining her.
Mehbooba is the first woman chief minister in Muslim majority Jammu and Kashmir.
Her tenure at the highest political office in the state, however, has not been smooth.
Four months after she took over as chief minister, Kashmir was in the throes of an unprecedented uprising after the popular young commander of Hizbul Mujahideen, Burhan Wani and two of his associates were killed on July 8, 2016.
More than a 100 civilians were killed and thousands were injured while hundreds of people were blinded by pellets mostly in the PDP bastion of south Kashmir from where the party has won more than 50 per cent of the total number of seats (28) it bagged in 2014 elections.
To strengthen the family's grip on the party after her father's death, she brought her brother, Tassaduq Mufti, an award-wining cinematographer to the PDP.
