Born on 20 February 1927 in Kishtwar Town, Om Mehta completed his education at the Prince of Wales College in Jammu. In 1947, he joined the National Conference and quickly rose to prominence as a dynamic community leader — serving as Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce Co-operative Society Kishtwar and constructing a building for it near the Tehsildar’s office.

Elected as a Legislative Council member in 1957 and 1959, he was the first to raise the developmental needs of Kishtwar in the Council — directly creating job opportunities for its people. In 1962, he became Director General of the J&K Cooperative Bank.

In 1964, he joined the Indian National Congress and became the first Member of Parliament from Kishtwar. He served on the Public Accounts Committee from 1966–68, was given ministerial rank in 1970, became Minister of Aviation and Transport in 1971, and then served as Union Home Minister from 1974 to 1977 — one of the highest offices in the Government of India.

Mrs. Indira Gandhi trusted Om Mehta implicitly — she would approve his suggested government projects without hesitation. He was assigned India’s most difficult problems due to his exceptional ability to accomplish goals quickly. The increasing workload took a toll on his health, and he passed away on 12 February 1995. He remains one of the most celebrated sons of Kishtwar.

Born on 4 June 1913 in the Mehta family of Kishtwar, Krishna was widowed during the violence of Partition in 1947 when her husband Duni Chand Gupta (Wazir-e-Wazarat of Muzaffarabad) was killed. Rather than succumbing to grief, she devoted herself to rehabilitating other displaced women and children in refugee camps.

At Kurukshetra, she came in contact with Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, who was deeply moved by her will and commitment. With his support, she established Gandhi Sewa Sadan and Khadi Gram Udyog Sangh — today spanning over 60 branches across J&K and two in Delhi — dedicated to the economic development of women.

She was appointed as a Rajya Sabha member from J&K, becoming the first woman Member of Parliament from Jammu & Kashmir. She was also instrumental in bringing Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to Kishtwar, acquainting her firsthand with the problems of the district. In 1972, she met Baba Magan — a revered Gujarati saint — and spent ten years in spiritual renunciation at his Ashram. She wrote many articles on Pandit Nehru and a book on the Crisis in Kashmir.

Krishna Mehta passed away on 20 October 1993 at the age of 80. As per her wish, her ashes were immersed in the Chanderbhaga (Chenab) near Kishtwar town — the river in whose heart her works and memory quietly and surely live on.

Born on 13 April 1937, Haji Bashir Ahmad Kichloo — the only son of Haji Ghulam Mohammed Kichloo, a prominent merchant and social figure of Kishtwar — began his career in the Forest Department in 1954 before joining the Plebiscite Front in 1958. He spent more than six years in jail for his political convictions, becoming the unquestioned leader of the Plebiscite Front in his zone until its conversion to National Conference in 1975.

Elected MLA from Kishtwar in 1977, 1987, and 1996 on a National Conference ticket, he served as Deputy Minister and later Cabinet Minister in Farooq Abdullah’s government until 1990. As Chairman of Auqaf-e-Islamia Kishtwar, he constructed the grand Islamia Faridia Educational and Research Institute complex — upgrading it from a High School to a full 10+2 school for boys and girls, with a College of Education.

When the Jamia Masjid Kishtwar was destroyed in the fire of January 2001, he was seen weeping at the scene. Despite deteriorating health, he immediately got plans drawn for the new three-storeyed mosque and launched construction on a war footing. It was his cherished wish to see the new mosque before his death — a dream that time did not allow him to fulfil.

Thakur Jughal Bhandari S/o Late Sh. Anant Ram Bhandari of Bhandari Mohalla, Kishtwar, joined Congress in 1983 and rose through the party ranks to serve as District President DYCCI Doda (1992–95), General Secretary DYCCI Doda (1995–2001), and later State Secretary PCCI J&K. He holds academic qualifications from J&K BOSE, Aligarh Muslim University (Abid Mahir), and Rashtriya Prachar Samiti.

Beyond politics, he has been associated with human rights activism under journalist Sh. Bal Raj Puri, social welfare under Nirmala Deshpande, and serves as Chairman of the District Adarsh Charitable Trust (Kishtwar) and Vice President of Adarsh Bal Niketan Higher Secondary School. He has also served as Vice Chairman of Shri Sarthal Devi Ji Trust and Executive Member of Rajput Sabha Kishtwar.

Born on 20 June 1964 in Kishtwar, Sajjad Ahmed Kichloo — third son of the late Haji Bashir Ahmad Kichloo — carried forward his father’s political legacy with great dedication. He began his career as Tehsil President Youth NC in 1996, rising to District President Youth NC in 1998.

In the 2002 Assembly Election, he was the NC candidate for Kishtwar constituency and won by 16,725 votes, defeating INC’s Ghulam Haider Sheikh by a margin of 1,663 votes. He again won the 2008 Assembly elections, defeating BJP’s Sunil Sharma. His manner of work and behaviour closely mirrored that of his late father — a legacy of public service deeply rooted in Kishtwar.

In the historic 2024 J&K Assembly Elections, Sajjad Ahmed Kichloo again contested from Kishtwar constituency on a National Conference ticket, polling 28,532 votes (47.14%) in a razor-thin contest, narrowly losing to BJP’s Shagun Parihar by just 521 votes — one of the most closely fought elections in Kishtwar’s history. He is currently Member of Parliament.

G.M. Saroori began as a businessman alongside his father Lt. Saidullah Saroori — a noted social worker. Inspired by the Gandhian and social activist MS Nirmala Deshpande, he devoted himself to public welfare and was awarded the Gandhian Gold Medal for Social Work. He was also instrumental in helping the government apprehend the culprits behind the theft of an idol at Sarthal temple — a critical act that averted potential communal tension.

He won the 2002, 2008, and 2014 Assembly elections from Inderwal constituency. His 2002 victory by 18,000 votes was the highest margin in the state that year. He served as MOS for Education, Tourism, Forest, and Social Welfare, and later as Cabinet Minister for R&B. He was appreciated by both Smt. Sonia Gandhi and Jenab G.N. Azad for his performance in implementing social welfare schemes.

Sunil Kumar Sharma is a senior BJP politician from Kishtwar who has played a pivotal role in establishing the Bharatiya Janata Party’s presence in the district. In the 2014 J&K Assembly Elections, he won the Kishtwar constituency on a BJP ticket — breaking the National Conference’s long dominance of the seat.

In the 2024 J&K Assembly Elections, Sharma contested from the newly created Paddar–Nagseni constituency and won, cementing the BJP’s footprint in Kishtwar district. He currently serves as the Leader of Opposition in the Jammu & Kashmir Legislative Assembly — one of the most important constitutional roles in the J&K government. His decade of representing Kishtwar’s interests at the assembly level makes him one of the district’s most significant contemporary political figures.

Shagun Parihar is one of Kishtwar’s most extraordinary political stories of our times. Elected MLA from Kishtwar constituency on 8 October 2024 as a BJP candidate, she became the youngest winner in the 2024 J&K Assembly Elections at just 29 years of age — and the BJP’s lone woman MLA in the entire election, one of only three women to win seats in the J&K Assembly.

Her story is one of remarkable courage. In 2018, her father Ajit Parihar and her uncle, senior BJP leader Anil Parihar, were killed in a terrorist attack by Hizbul Mujahideen — just days before the Panchayat elections. Shagun continued her studies, completing a Master’s degree in Engineering (M.Tech in Electrical Power Systems) from IK Gujral Punjab Technical University (2021) and was pursuing her PhD at the time of the election.

When asked why she was contesting, she said: “I am not contesting for my family members who were killed by terrorists. I am contesting for all families — especially those of martyred security personnel.” Union Home Minister Amit Shah campaigned for her in Kishtwar, saying that voting for her was not just a vote for development but also a tribute to martyrs including her father.

After her victory, Shagun vowed to focus on the security, prosperity, and development of Kishtwar — with peace and security as her foremost priority, alongside jobs and the empowerment of women. She took office on 8 October 2024, succeeding Sunil Kumar Sharma as MLA of the Kishtwar constituency.

Pyare Lal Sharma is the current MLA of the Inderwal Assembly constituency, having won the 2024 J&K Assembly Elections as an Independent candidate on 8 October 2024. He was a long-standing member of the Jammu & Kashmir National Conference, but left the party after being denied a ticket when the Inderwal seat was allocated to Congress under the pre-poll NC–Congress alliance.

Contesting as an Independent, he defeated the formidable two-time former minister G.M. Saroori by a narrow margin of 643 votes — one of the most competitive contests in the 2024 J&K elections. The Inderwal constituency recorded an impressive voter turnout of 84.02%.

After his victory, Pyare Lal Sharma rejoined the National Conference along with four other independent MLAs and extended his support to the Second Omar Abdullah Ministry to form the government — demonstrating both political pragmatism and a commitment to stable governance for his constituency and Kishtwar district.