279 candidates join fray for 24 seats of Phase-I Assembly elections
*BJP fields candidates on all 8 segments, NC 6, PDP & Cong 5 each
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Aug 27: Ninety six candidates including seven ex Ministers, DDC chairperson, former legislators, bureaucrat, Advocate General and kin of two martyr brothers, have filed their papers on last day of nominations for eight Assembly seats of the Jammu division, falling in three districts of Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban which will go to polls in Phase-I on September 18.
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However, a total of 279 candidates have joined the fray for 24 Assembly seats of Jammu and Kashmir for the first phase of polling for which 23.27 lakh electorates are eligible to exercise their right to franchise including 5.66 lakh youth.
Scrutiny of the documents will be held tomorrow while August 30 is last date for withdrawals.
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Union Minister of State in the PMO Dr Jitendra Singh, who represents Doda region in Lok Sabha for third consecutive time, joined the BJP party candidates in filing nomination papers in Doda while BJP national general secretary Tarun Chug accompanied the party candidate in Ramban. Party UT chief Ravinder Raina and general secretary (Organizations) Ashok Koul were with the nominees in Kishtwar and Paddar-Nagseni. Former Deputy CM Dr Nirmal Singh joined Inderwal candidate to the Returning Officer’s office. BJP Lok Sabha member Jugal Kishore Sharma accompanied party candidate Daleep Parihar in filing papers from Bhaderwah.
BJP and NC also faced rebellion in Kishtwar and Ramban districts.
BJYM district Kishtwar president Rakesh Rocky Goswami resigned from the party and filed his nomination papers as an Independent candidate against BJP nominee Sunil Sharma from Paddar-Nagseni. He charged Sharma of running one-man show in the district and ignoring other party leaders.
BJP district Ramban vice president Suraj Singh Parihar, an Advocate has too quit the party and filed papers as an Independent against party candidate Rajesh Singh Thakur from Ramban constituency.
NC candidate Pyare Lal Sharma revolted against the party decision to give Inderwal seat to Congress under the seat-sharing agreement. He filed nomination papers as an Independent candidate against Congress leader Sheikh Zaffarullah.
Seven former Ministers who have joined the fray on eight seats of Doda region include Sunil Sharma (BJP-Paddar Nagseni), Ghulam Mohammad Saroori (Independent Inderwal), Sajjad Kitchloo (NC Kishtwar), Abdul Mujeed Wani (DPAP) and Khalid Najib Suhrawardhy (NC), both from Doda, Vikar Rasool Wani (Congress Banihal) and Shakti Raj Parihar (BJP Doda West) Sunil, Saroori, Mujeed Wani, Vikar and Shakti Parihar were elected MLAs in 2014 elections as well while Kitchloo and Suhrawardhy had lost the elections.
District Development Council (DDC) Kishtwar chairperson Pooja Thakur has joined the fray from Paddar -Nagseni, a newly created Assembly seat, as the National Conference candidate against BJP’s Sunil Sharma.
Daleep Parihar filed his papers from Bhaderwah, a seat he won in 2014 as the BJP candidate while Firdous Tak, a former MLC, has been fielded by the PDP from Kishtwar constituency for second time.
Among other notable candidates is Shagun Parihar, daughter of martyr Ajit Singh, who along with his brother Anil Parihar, a prominent BJP leader were martyred by the terrorists near their house in Kishtwar in 2018. Former IAS officer Mehboob Iqbal and ex Advocate General Aslam Goni joined the contest from Bhaderwah seat as NC and DPAP candidates respectively. Congress has fielded Nadeem Sharief from Bhaderwah, who is son of former Cabinet Minister Mohammad Sharief Niaz. He too filed his papers today.
Gajay Singh, Tareeq Keen, Rakesh Singh and Mohammad Saleem Bhat filed the papers today as the BJP candidates from Doda, Inderwal, Ramban and Banihal constituencies respectively.
Besides Suhrawardhy, Kitchloo, Pooja Thakur and Mehboob Iqbal from Doda, Kishtwar, Paddar-Nagseni and Bhaderwah, the NC has fielded Arjun Singh Raju from Ramban and Sajjad Shaheen from Banihal. NC hasn’t fielded any candidate in Doda West and Inderwal and left the seats for Congress.
Apart from Vikar Rasool Wani, former PCC chief, Dr Pardeep Bhagat (Doda West) and Nadeem Sharief, the Congress has fielded Sheikh Riyaz Ahmed from Doda and Sheikh Zafarullah from Inderwal seats.
PDP candidates include Firdous Tak from Kishtwar, Nasir Ahmed Sheikh (Inderwal), Sandesh Kumar (Paddar-Nagseni), Imtiyaz Shan (Banihal), Tanveer Hussain (Doda West) and Mansoor Ahmed and Talib Hussain (Doda).
A total of 96 candidates have filed the nomination papers from eight Assembly seats of Doda, Ramban and Kishtwar districts.
Highest number of 16 candidates each have jumped into the battle of ballots from Doda and Bhaderwah seats in Doda district, Deputy Commissioner Doda Harvinder Singh told the Excelsior. Nine candidates have joined the contest from Doda West segment, he added, A total of 41 candidates are in the fray from Doda district.
For three constituencies of Kishtwar, 32 candidates have entered the electoral battle including 13 from Inderwal, 11 in Kishtwar and eight from Paddar-Nagseni while for two seats of Ramban district, a total of 23 candidates have filed nomination papers including 13 from Ramban and 10 in Banihal.
In last Assembly elections held in 2014, the Doda region had six seats. Of them, BJP won four including Doda, Bhaderwah, Kishtwar and Ramban while Congress got two-Banihal and Inderwal. However, after delimitation, number of the seats has now gone up to eight. The BJP is contesting all eight seats, National Conference is in the fray on six seats while PDP and Congress have fielded candidates on five seats each.
Meanwhile, confident of her victory with the support of the people of Kishtwar, 29-year-old Shagun Parihar filed her papers as the BJP candidate against Sajjad Kitchloo, who has served as Minister of State for Home in NC-Congress Government headed by Omar Abdullah during 2008-2014. Kitchloo, however, lost election to BJP candidate Sunil Sharma in 2014 from the same seat.
Vowing to work for the development of all communities, Shagun emphasised that peace, security, employment and women’s empowerment would be the core areas of her work towards the upliftment of the mountainous district.
“It is the love of the people of Kishtwar that has motivated me to file my nomination. I am confident of my victory. I am also certain that the brothers, sisters, and elders of Kishtwar will support and ensure my victory with a large number of votes,” the BJP nominee told reporters after filing her nomination at the office of the Returning Officer in Kishtwar.
Equally confident is Sajjad Kitchloo who said the BJP has done nothing for Kishtwar and people will now make the NC victorious once against like they have been doing in the past excepting 2014.
Parihar, who is pursuing a doctorate in electronics, expressed gratitude to the BJP for honouring the families of martyrs who laid down their lives for the nation and the party.
BJP UT chief Ravinder Raina said the BJP candidates in the Doda region will win the elections with a thumping margin
Meanwhile, Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) vice president Ghulam Mohammad Saroori, who was denied ticket by the party, also filed his nomination as an Independent candidate from Inderwal seat in Kishtwar district and said he could not ignore the people’s demand to contest the Assembly elections.
The former Minister, however, ruled out any differences with DPAP chief Ghulam Nabi Azad, affirming that Azad would remain his leader.
Saroori has won Inderwal seat for three consecutive terms including 2002, 2008 and 2014.
“I have filed nomination papers as an Independent candidate from the Inderwal constituency. We have been working for the people of this region and will continue to do so. I acted on the decision of the people of Inderwal and could not ignore their demand,” Saroori told reporters in Kishtwar.
Saroori lost his deposit in the 2024 Parliamentary elections from Kathua-Udhampur seat, which was won for the third time by Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh.
Saroori was previously associated with the Congress for a long time but resigned along with Azad in August 2022.
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