Apni Party may join fray for Kishtwar DDC
*Quorum down to eight in second meeting
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Feb 17: In a shot in the arm for National Conference, three Independent DDC members joined the party today ahead of tomorrow’s crucial election for the posts of chairperson and vice chairperson in Ramban District Development Council while in Kishtwar DDC, National Conference rebel Sharifa Begum, who has joined Apni Party, is expected to contest the election against NC nominee Pooja Thakur.
Ramban and Kishtwar DDCs, where elections were deferred for want of quorum on February 13, will go to polls tomorrow while election in Rajouri DDC has been scheduled for February 19. While the quorum was 10 out of 14 members in the first meeting, it will be down to eight in the second gathering of the DDC winners scheduled for tomorrow in two districts and day after in another.
All three Independent DDC Members in Ramban district including former bureaucrat Bashir Ahmad Runiyal, who had floated ‘Azaad Itehaad’, today joined National Conference in presence of party provincial president Devender Singh Rana.
The National Conference now doesn’t need the support of Congress as with six members of its own, the party has nine members in the DDC of 14, which was one more than the majority mark, to get their chairperson and vice chairperson elected.
Rana announced that Dr Shamshad Shan of National Conference will contest election for the post of chairperson while Independent Rabiya Rasheed Beig will be in the fray for vice chairperson in the Woman Reserved Ramban DDC.
Earlier, National Conference had joined hands with Congress, which has two members, to reach majority mark of eight. In the previous scenario, the vice chairperson’s post was scheduled to go to the Congress.
The ‘Azaad Itehaad’ with three members was earlier in talks with the BJP as well. However, since both the parties had three members each, the majority mark of eight eluded them and the tie-up didn’t mature.
BJP has three members in Ramban and there were reports that it might field candidates for top posts to test the waters.
Rana described joining of National Conference by three Independents as “home coming” and said some parties were trying to indulge in horse trading which amount to shaking faith of people in democracy.
In Kishtwar DDC too, National Conference rebel and DDC member from Thakrai, Shareefa Begum who had recently joined the Apni Party, is expected to contest election for the post of chairperson with the support of BJP and Independents.
National Conference with six and Congress with three members have entered into an alliance for the election of Kishtwar DDC. As per the tie-up, NC candidate Pooja Thakur will contest election for the post of chairperson and Saima Parveen Lone of Congress for vice chairperson.
Though NC-Congress have nine members, they are keeping the fingers crossed for the fear of cross-voting especially after revolt by Shareefa Begum.
There are three BJP members and two Independents in Kishtwar.
In Rajouri district, however, the election is scheduled to be held on February 19.
In Rajouri DDC, National Conference, Congress and PDP have together nine members followed by BJP three, Independent and Apni Party one each. The National Conference has already decided to field Naseem Liaquat for the post of chairperson while for the post of vice chairperson the Congress might field one of its members.
Election process has been completed in seven out of 10 District Development Councils in the Jammu region. The BJP has won chairpersonship of six including Jammu, Samba, Kathua, Udhampur, Reasi and Doda while Independent Tazeem Akhtar has been elected chairperson of Poonch DDC.
Election process for chairpersons and vice chairpersons has to be completed before February 20.
The voting was deferred in Ramban, Kishtwar and Rajouri DDCs on February 13 as two-third members i.e. 10 out of 14 were not present. In Rajouri and Kishtwar, nine members attended the election meeting while the number was eight in Ramban. The BJP and Independents among others had abstained from the meetings.
As per the Rules, presence of only eight members is required when the meeting is convened for second time for the elections.
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