Nishikant Khajuria
JAMMU, Aug 25: After thorough deliberations, State Congress Election Committee has finalized the panels of party candidates for the forthcoming Assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir even as some heated arguments among the participating members were witnessed during the crucial meeting, held today at Srinagar.
Except a few, party panel for the candidates on each and every Assembly seat was finalized while all the sitting Congress MLAs are all set to be repeated in the next polls as there was no other choice for the constituencies being represented by them, sources informed the Excelsior.
Besides the constituencies of sitting Congress MLAs, single names on a few more seats have been forwarded by the Election Committee for final approval of the Central Parliamentary Board, the apex decision taking body in Congress party, sources added.
These seats include Domana, Nagrota, Reasi and Kalakote in Jammu division where Mula Ram, Shivdev Singh, Jugal Kishore and Ashok Sharma, respectively are the lone candidates in the list, which was finalized during crucial meeting, held today at Hotel Broadway in Summer Capital of the State.
According to the sources, no other name figured for even discussion as probable candidate on these four seats.
While the panel for remaining seats contain two, three or even four suitable candidates, sources disclosed that decision on Kathua, Basohli, Darhal and Kishtwar Assembly constituencies was kept pending by the poll panel without any discussion.
The Kishtwar Assembly constituency is being represented by Sajjad Ahmed Kitchloo of National Conference while for Darhal seat, names of Thakur Puran Singh, Masood Ahmad Choudhary and Iqbal Malik are doing the rounds. But no discussion was held on these seats.
The panel for Jammu West Assembly constituency contains the names of Satish Sharma, Manmohan Singh, Surinder Singh Shinghari and Vinod Sharma while Yogesh Sawhney, Vikram Malhotra, Pranab Shagotra and Shiv Kumar Sharma were short listed as possible Congress candidates for the Jammu-East seat.
For the Marh constituency, names of Balwan Singh and Indu Pawar were finalized for the panel while the panel for R S Pura, Poonch, Bani, Ramnagar, Samba and Surankote also contained two names each.
Suman Bhagat and B R Kundal were recommended for R S Pura, Bashir Ahmad Naaz and Jahangir Mir for Poonch, Prem Sagar Aziz and Rajneesh Sharma (son of former Deputy Chief Minister Mangat Ram Sharma) for Bani, Vinod Khajuria and R S Pathania for Ramnagar, Subash Bhagat and Manohar Lal for Samba and Gulchain Singh Charak and Shashi Sharma for the Bishnah Assembly seat, sources informed.
According to the sources, there was almost a consensus over the name of Shahnawaz Choudhary, State president of Youth Congress, as the only suitable candidate for Surankote Assembly constituency, however, the name of Mohd Akram, son of late Congress leader Choudhary Mohd Aslam was also included in the panel.
For the Vijaypur constituency, names of Arun Sharma, Manjit Singh and Balwinder Singh Sambyal were short listed and included in the panel. Similarly, R S Chib, Choudhary Gharu Ram, S. Bhupinder Singh (Retd SSP) and Darshan Raina were short listed for Suchetgarh, Murtaza Khan, Zulfikar, Mumtaz and Parveen Akhtar for Mendhar and Ashok Gupta, Ashwani Khajuria and Brij Mohan for Udhampur seat.
Heated arguments between former MP Madan Lal Sharma and PCC chief Prof Saif-ud-Soz were witnessed after the former insisted for inclusion of the name of Rajinder Sharma in the panel for Nowshera constituency.
Earlier the names of only Ravinder Sharma and Dr Ramesh Sharma were finalized for the panel. Madan Lal Sharma’s recommendation for Rajinder Sharma’s name irked Ravinder who opposed the same. As PCC chief Prof Saif-ud-Din Soz came forward in support of Ravinder Sharma, Madan Lal took on the PCC chief and accused him of severely damaging Congress in Jammu and Kashmir during the last seven years. The heated exchange of words between the two continued till the intervention of Ghulam Nazi Azad, on whose suggestion, the name of Rajinder Sharma was finally included in the panel, source said.
For the Sonawar Assembly seat in Kashmir Valley, on which the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah is likely to contest as National Conference candidate, the Election Committee short listed the names of Khem Lata Wakhloo, Abid Kashmiri and Bilal Ahmed as the possible Congress candidates.
Decision was not taken on Gulmarg Assembly constituency, being represented by the Agriculture Minister G H Mir even as a few names were discussed as probable candidates, sources said. A panel of candidates was however recommended for the Khansahib constituency where Hakim Yasin is the sitting MLA.
Verdict on Nobra, Kargil and Drass was also kept pending. The Election Committee fully authorized Nawang Rigzin Jora to recommend the suitable candidate for Nobra while for a decision on Kargil and Drass, prior discussion with Imam Khomeni Memorial Trust (IKMT) will be held, sources informed.
The meeting of Election Committee lasted for more than five hours and was attended by all the members, including the special invitees.
The panels of short listed candidates will be sent to the Screening Committee, which will forward the same to Central Parliamentary Board for final approval and mandate to the Congress candidate for each Assembly seat.
Follow our WhatsApp channel