Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Feb 17: Stage was today set for unopposed victory of five candidates of PDP-BJP combine while election would be held for six seats-four from Jammu province and two from Kashmir on March 2 as BJP announced five candidates-three for Jammu seats and one each for Leh and Kashmir seats while NC named two candidates-one each for Jammu and Kashmir provinces for the Legislative Council elections.
All candidates-11 from PDP-BJP combine (6 PDP and five BJP) and two from National Conference, who will be supported by the Congress, will file their nomination papers tomorrow, the last date for nominations. March 2 is the election date.
Official sources told the Excelsior that unlike Rajya Sabha elections, where NC-Congress alliance had fielded candidates even against single notification seats knowing that their defeat was certain, they have this time decided not to contest five single notification seats and field two candidates-one against four seats of Jammu region and another for two seats of Kashmir province-where the party has prospectus of winning.
While five candidates of PDP-BJP combine could go to the Legislative Council uncontested, there will be fight for remaining six seats, sources said.
The BJP today announced its five candidates, who would contest Legislative Council elections. They included Vibodh Gupta, Romesh Arora and Charanjit Singh Khalsa, all three for Jammu province seats, Chering Dorjey (Leh reserve seat) and Sofi Yusuf (Kashmir province seat).
The National Conference named two candidates-Sajjad Ahmad Kitchloo (Jammu province seat) and Qaiser Jamsheed Lone (Kashmir province seat).
The PDP has already announced six candidates including Haji Inayat Ali (Kargil reserve seat), Surinder Choudhary and Firdous Tak (Jammu province seats) Yasir Rishi, Javed Ahmad Mirchal and Saif-ud-Din Bhat (Kashmir province seats).
A total of 11 seats are scheduled to go for elections on March 2-eight in biennial elections category and three in by-elections, which were necessitated due to election of three MLCs to the Legislative Assembly. Under the PDP-BJP agreement, the PDP will contest six and BJP five seats while under NC-Congress seat adjustments, NC will contest two seats and Congress none.
According to sources, five candidates of PDP-BJP combine including two on biennial election notification for two seats reserved for Leh and Kargil within the Kashmir province and three in by-election category-one in Jammu and two in Kashmir-were likely to be elected unopposed to the Legislative Council as NC-Congress alliance was unlikely to field candidates against them due to certain victory of PDP-BJP nominees in view of single election to be held for them.
Sources said the PDP and BJP would decide tomorrow morning on three by-election seats as the candidates there would get only remaining term of the MLCs, who have vacated the seats. Two candidates on two by-elections one each in Jammu and Kashmir provinces contesting against the seats vacated by NC’s Devender Singh Rana (Jammu) and Abdul Majid Bhat Laram (Kashmir) would get four years term while the candidate on another seat vacated by PDP’s Ashraf Mir (Kashmir province) would get two years term only. In rest all eight biennial (regular) vacancies, the winners will get six years term.
For five single election seats, the PDP-BJP candidates would need only 44 votes to win while they have the support of nearly 57 MLAs, who comprised Electoral College for the Council elections. In Rajya Sabha election, the NC had fielded candidates even against single notification seats to block unopposed entry of PDP-BJP candidates to the Upper House while in the Council elections, the NC is not going to repeat its strategy and would concentrate on two seats only, one of which it would win safely (Jammu province) while it would have to garner support of three Independent and Others-Mohammad Yusuf Tarigami, Hakim Mohammad Yasin and Engineer Rashid to win one seat from Kashmir.
Apart from five single election seats, the election will be held on six other seats including four for Jammu province and two for Kashmir province. Of four Jammu province seats on which one election will be held, the PDP-BJP will win three and NC one going by the arithmetic in the Assembly. The PDP-BJP candidates would get 19 votes each out of 57 to win three seats of Jammu while NC with 27 votes (NC 15 and Congress 12) would safely ensure victory of Sajjad Kitchloo.
However, for two seats of Kashmir province, the PDP-BJP combine would safely get one and for second seat, the situation would be almost similar to the one faced by BJP’s Chander Mohan Sharma, who had lost by two votes unless three MLAs-Tarigami, Hakim and Rashid change their mind or the Government is formed by then and it nominates two women MLAs, who have voting rights for the Council.
“If Rajya Sabha election like situation persists, NC’s Qaiser Jamsheed Lone will be through to the Council,” sources said.
As per the BJP-PDP understanding, the PDP was contesting six seats and BJP five. NC has fielded candidates on two seats. One PDP candidate on Jammu seat, most likely Firdous Tak, was sure to lose if he joined the fray while one candidate of PDP or BJP could lose in Kashmir if NC managed to keep three Independent MLAs with it.
BJP candidates Vibodh Gupta and Romesh Arora were party vice presidents and have been committed and dedicated party workers since formation of the party. Both of them were party’s state vice presidents. Khalsa, the State secretary of BJP, had contested 2002 Assembly election from Gandhi Nagar seat. Sofi Yusuf is associated with the BJP in Kashmir for past more than two decades while Chering Dorjey had contested last Assembly election from Leh on BJP mandate and lost to Nawang Rigzin Jora of Congress. Dorjey had won Leh seat in 1996 as Congress candidate and had later also served as Chief Executive Councilor of Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC), Leh.
NC candidate Sajjad Ahmad Kitchloo had lost last Assembly election from Kishtwar and then recent Rajya Sabha election.
Sources said the NC decided to give mandate to the candidates, who had polled more than 20,000 votes in the Assembly elections and lost narrowly. Both Kitchloo and Jamsheed Lone fell in that category. Lone was MLA in 2002 Assembly but had lost in 2008 and 2014.
PDP candidate for Kargil seat Haji Inayat Ali is president, Youth Wing Islamiya School for Kargil while Surinder Choudhary on Jammu seat had lost Assembly election from Nowshera constituency but polled 27,877 votes, Yasir Rishi, who had lost Assembly elections from Sonawar by just 428 votes, Javed Ahmad Mirchal, who was PDP’s covering candidate from Karnah and Saif-ud-Din Bhat, who had contested party election from Khansaheb constituency have been fielded on three seats of Kashmir.
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