SRINAGAR: Former IAS officer Shah Faesal Friday extended support to Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) chief Abdul Rasheed Sheikh for election to the Baramulla Lok Sabha seat in Jammu and Kashmir.

"In the given circumstances, @mlalangate (Sheikh) seems to be the best choice among candidates for Baramula PC. My vote is for him," Faesal tweeted.

The 2010 batch IAS topper, who quit the government service in January this year and launched his own party 'Jammu and Kashmir People's Movement' last month, has decided not to contest the Lok Sabha polls this year and instead focus on mass contact programme.

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Sheikh, two-time MLA from Langate, is fighting the Lok Sabha polls in a multi-cornered contest which also features candidates from the National Conference, the Congress, the PDP and the BJP.

After Faesal quit the government services, the former lawmaker had offered support to him if he chose to contest the polls independently.

When the former bureaucrat decided to not take the electoral plunge this year, Sheikh sought his support in the Lok Sabha polls.