Abdul Rashid Dar

The Honourable Abdul Rashid Dar MLA, MLC
AR Dar (right) with President of India APJ Abdul Kalam at SKICC Srinagar.
Chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Council
In office 2000–2008
Governor	Girish Chandra Saxena Srinivas Kumar Sinha Narinder Nath Vohra
Chief Minister	Farooq Abdullah Mufti Mohammad Sayeed Ghulam Nabi Azad
Deputy	P Namgyal
Preceded by	Himself
Succeeded by	Ghulam Nabi Lone
Deputy Chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Council
In office 1997–2000
Member of Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly
In office 1987–1990
Governor	Jagmohan
Chief Minister	Farooq Abdullah
Preceded by	Maqbool Dar
Succeeded by	Abdul Majid
Constituency	Shangus
Member of Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Council
In office 1996–2002
In office 2002–2008
Personal details
Born	(1949-04-13)13 April 1949
Died	28 February 2020(2020-02-28) (aged 70) Srinagar, India
Political party	Jammu Kashmir National Conference

Abdul Rashid Dar also known amongst his supporters as Dar-Sahab was a senior leader and a veteran politician from the state of Jammu & Kashmir,^[1] who served as the Chairman of the J&K Legislative Council. He also served as MLA and throughout his career, Dar held several senior positions in the government.

Political career

Dar started his career with the J&K National Conference in 1987 when he contested the election from Shangus, Anantnag. In the election Dar was put up against the two heavyweight candidates the incumbent Congress MLA Maqbool Dar, who served as the Home Minister (Mos) of India and former minister Ashraf Khan. Dar emerged victorious in the election and was elected MLA as a member of the National Conference representing the Shangus constituency of Anantnag.^[2] He served in the state assembly till 1990 when the assembly was dissolved by Jagmohan the Governor of Jammu and Kashmir. Later on in 1996, Dar was elected to the upper house the Legislative Council of the state .^[3] During his initial term, he was nominated as the Vice Chairman of the Council, after two years in the position, he was elected as the Chairman of the house and subsequently re-elected as the Chairman as well as a member of the Legislative Council for a second full term. The Secretary General of the upper house of Indian Parliament R.C Tripathi in his book Bicameralism Today has defined Dar as a lawyer with a shining career, Tripathi noted that the Chairmen of the J&K Legislative Council, including Dar, were renowned academicians and outstanding parliamentarians with a strong legal background.^[4] Same holds true for Dar who was lawyer and a longtime legislator. Dar holds the distinction of being the only chairman to have won two consecutive terms. He also remains the longest-serving Chairman of Jammu and Kashmir.

Legislative Council (Upper House)

A.R. Dar was elected to the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Council in 1996. Just two years later, he was elected as the deputy chairman of the house. Despite not belonging to the ruling party at that time, Dar won another term in the council in 2002.

Election as the Chairman

In 2001, Dar contested the election for the seat of the Chairman of the J&K Legislative Council, winning the election once again he became the Chairman of the council. In 2004, Dar and JKNC parted ways. He remained independent while also continuing to serve as the chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Council.

Positions Held

Public offices

Dar has held the following positions;

No Confidence Motion

In 2004 a No confidence motion was moved against Dar, the motion was put before the legislative council. To ensure fairness, Chairman Dar decided to temporarily step down from his position. Leadership of the house was then assumed by the Deputy Chairman P Namgyal who led proceedings of the house. He called for debate, several members put forward their opinions, the deputy chairman after hearing all the members put the moiton to vote, the motion was defeated, majority of the members voted in support of Dar, who emerged as the winner after proving his support in the house he continued his term as the Chairman till 2009. After a continuous winning streak from 1987, Dar relinquished all offices in 2009.^[5] Dar died on 28 February 2020. Condolences poured in from across party lines, and his death was termed as a great loss for Jammu and Kashmir. Dar had earned respect and admiration from his political opponents as well. All major leaders of Jammu and Kashmir, including the JK National Conference through their spokesman Imran Nabi Dar, expressed profound grief and shock over his demise. Among the leaders were former minister and founder of "Apni Party" Syed Muhammad Altaf Bukhari, MLA Pahalgam Rafi Ahmad Mir, Jammu and Kashmir Congress (JKPCC) president, G.A Mir, Former Minister and ex-State Congress president, Peerzada Muhammad Sayeed, Ex MLA Shangus, Gulzar Ahmad Wani, CPI (M) senior leader, Mohammed Yousuf Tarigami, Hakeem Muhammad Yaseen, Ghulam Hassan Mir, Manzoor Ganie and Chairman Political Migrants Front, Sheikh Mohi-ud Din, Shabnam, expressed profound grief and shock over his demise.^[6]

References