A Jammu and Kashmir court has issued a non-bailable warrant against Mehraj Malik, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA from the Doda Assembly constituency. The Special Excise Mobile Magistrate in Jammu directed the police to arrest Malik and produce him before the court on May 14, the scheduled date for the next hearing in the case.
The defamation complaint was lodged by former Congress leader G.M. Saroori, alleging Malik of giving false information that defamed him. The complaint was lodged at Gandoh Police Station under Section 499 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which is related to defamation.
Malik won the 2024 Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly elections from Doda, defeating Saroori and other contenders. With Mehraj Malik, AAP currently holds one seat in the 90-member Jammu and Kashmir Assembly. The party is supporting the Omar Abdullah-led National Conference (NC) government in the union territory.
In the elections to the 2024 Legislative Assembly, the National Conference became the single-largest party with 42 seats and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 29. The Congress got six, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won three, and AAP and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) won one each. The Peoples Conference (PC) and the Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) also secured one seat each, while six independent MLAs were elected. Congress, AAP, and CPI(M) extended outside support to the NC government, with five of the six independent MLAs joining the NC.
In the Lok Sabha elections for five seats of Jammu and Kashmir in 2024, BJP won two seats, two were won by NC, and AIP, being headed by Engineer Rashid, won one. These polls took place six years after the merger of Jammu and Kashmir with the rest of India to become a Union Territory on August 5, 2019.
