Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Mar 19: Congress candidate and two time sitting MP from Jammu-Poonch Lok Sabha seat Madan Lal Sharma and his PDP rival Yash Pal Sharma would be filing their nomination papers for April 10 election before Returning Officer (Deputy Commissioner, Jammu AK Sahu) tomorrow while Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate Ashok Bhagat and Refugee United Front nominee Labha Ram Gandhi joined the electoral battle today.
The nominations for Udhampur-Doda Lok Sabha seat, which would go to polls on April 17, also opened today with Deputy Commissioner, Kathua Jatinder Singh, who has been designated as Returning Officer for the constituency, issuing a notification inviting nominations from the candidates till March 26.
Two bigwigs from Jammu-Poonch Lok Sabha seat—Madan Lal Sharma, the Congress candidate and two times MP from the constituency and his strong PDP rival Yash Pal Sharma would file their nomination papers tomorrow before the Returning Officer, Jammu.
PCC (I) president Prof Saif-ud-Din Soz reached here from New Delhi to join Mr Sharma in filing nomination papers.
Worthwhile to mention here that Mr Sharma had officially not been named as the Congress candidate for Jammu-Poonch Lok Sabha seat by the party high command. In fact, Congress high command has not named any candidate for three seats of Jammu and Kashmir so far, which the party would contest under seat sharing agreement with its coalition partner—the National Conference, which is contesting the remaining three seats.
Apart from Madan Lal Sharma, PDP candidate Yash Pal Sharma would also file his nomination papers tomorrow in the presence of senior party leaders.
BJP candidate from Jammu-Poonch seat Jugal Kishore Sharma is scheduled to file his nomination papers on March 22, the last date for filing nomination papers on Jammu-Poonch seat, which would go to polls in first phase of Jammu and Kashmir on April 10.
Scrutiny of nominations will be conducted on March 24 while the candidates can withdraw their nomination papers till March 26 on Jammu-Poonch Lok Sabha constituency.
BSP candidate from Jammu-Poonch Lok Sabha seat Ashok Kumar Bhagat and Refugees United Front nominee Labha Ram Gandhi filed their nomination papers before the Returning Officers today. They were joined by a large number of supporters while filing the nomination papers.
With two nominations filed today, the number of candidates entering the electoral fray from Jammu-Poonch Lok Sabha seat has gone up to three. Yesterday, Independent candidate Vijay Kumar had filed nomination papers on the name of Aam Kissan Mazdoor Sangarsh Party.
Meanwhile, DC Kathua Jatinder Singh, the Returning Officer for Udhampur-Doda Lok Sabha seat, today issued notification for the constituency. The candidates can file their nomination papers till March 26. Scrutiny of nominations will be held on March 27 while last date for withdrawal of nominations is March 29. Voting will be held is April 17.
No nomination papers were filed on first day today, sources said.
AAP names 2 more candidates in J&K
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) today announced two more candidates for Jammu and Kashmir.
The eighth list of 19 candidates released by AAP today carried names of Harbans Lal Bhagat from Jammu-Poonch Lok Sabha seat and Tanveer Maqbool Dar from Anantnag-Pulwama Parliamentary constituency.
AAP has already named RTI activist Raja Muzaffar Bhat from Srinagar-Budgam Lok Sabha seat against Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy and National Conference patron Dr Farooq Abdullah.
With today’s list, AAP has so far named candidates for 287 Parliamentary seats.
AAP list also included Parveen Amanullah, who had resigned from Nitish Government as Minister, who would take on BJP’s Shatrughan Sinha from Patna Lok Sabha seat in Bihar.
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