Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Aug 16: The National Conference today released third list of its candidates for forthcoming Assembly elections, which included the name of party’s provincial president Devender Singh Rana, who will contest from Nagrota Assembly segment. The NC has replaced its two time loser Ajatshatru Singh, former Minister and sitting MLC from Nagrota seat.
In the list of 16 candidates released by the NC today after its Parliamentary Board meeting in Srinagar today, 11 were in Kashmir region and five in Jammu.
However, the NC Parliamentary Board, which met under the chairmanship of party president Dr Farooq Abdullah in the presence of working president and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has not yet cleared the name of Omar for any seat so far.
The Parliament Board comprised Abdul Rahim Rather, Harbans Singh, Ali Mohammad Sagar, Choudhary Mohammad Ramzan, Qamar Ali Akhoon, Nasir Aslam Wani and Devender Singh Rana.
The party has replaced its 13 candidates, who had lost 2008 Assembly elections and retained only three.
The NC has fielded Rana from prestigious Nagrota Assembly segment, a seat the BJP leader Jugal Kishore Sharma had won for two consecutive terms in 2002 and 2008. Jugal had vacated the seat recently after being elected to Lok Sabha.
Ajatshatru Singh, son of former Sadar-e-Riyasat, who had won Nagrota seat in 1996 and was made Cabinet Minister, had lost two subsequent elections in 2002 and 2008. After his defeat in 2008, the NC had made Ajatshatru Singh as a member of the Upper House. Presently, Rana is also a MLC.
On four other Assembly seats, NC has fielded Dr Abdul Gafoor in Akhnoor, Bimla Luthra (Nominated woman MLC) from Jammu East, Ghulam Haider Malik, former Deputy Speaker from Bani and Raj Kapoor from Ramnagar.
Dr Gafoor had earlier contested Akhnoor seat on BSP mandate but lost with narrow margin. Malik had won Bani seat in 1996 and was made Deputy Speaker but he lost two subsequent elections in 2002 and 2008 to Congress and BJP respectively. However, the party has again reposed faith in him.
Last time, NC had fielded Ram Saroop Sharma in Akhnoor, Pradeep Bali in Jammu East and Jagdish Singh from Ramnagar but they all had lost.
The NC has fielded Ghulam Modi-ud-Din Mir ‘Muran’ from Rajpura Assembly constituency, where PDP leader and former Jammu and Kashmir Bank Chairman Dr Haseeb Drabu is in the fray. NC has replaced 2008 loser Ghulam Nabi Wani. PDP had also replaced its sitting MLA Syed Bashir from Rajpura.
The party has fielded Imran Nabi Dar from Kulgam against three times CPM MLA Mohammad Yusuf Tarigami replacing last time’s loser Safder Ali Khan.
In Devsar, NC has, however, reposed faith in former Minister and 1996 winner Peerzada Ghulam Ahmed Shah against two times PDP MLA and present Deputy Speaker Sartaj Madni. Shah had lost 2002 and 2008 elections.
In Dooru and Kokernang Assembly segments, presently held by Congress leaders and Cabinet Ministers GA Mir (Tourism) and Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed (Public Enterprises), NC has fielded Farooq Ahmad Ganai and Ghulam Nabi Bhat (Adgami). While party had replaced its Dooru candidate Mohammad Akbar Ganaie with Farooq Ahmad, it has again fielded Adgami from Kokernag.
In Shangus and Pahalgam Assembly constituencies, held by PDP MLAs Peerzada Mansoor Shah and Rafi Ahmad Mir respectively, the NC has fielded Riaz Ahmed Khan Advocate and Altaf Kaloo respectively.
Other candidates announced by the NC included Mohammad Yaqoob (Sangrama), Ghulam Hassan Rahi (Baramulla), Manzoor Ahmed Wani (Khansaheb) and Yawar Masoodi (Pampore). All of them are new faces.
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