* Several 2008 losers secure party ticket
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Nov 6: The Congress high command today released list of 69 candidates for four remaining phases of elections in Jammu and Kashmir which included eight Ministers, sitting MLAs and MLCs, former legislators and son of PCC (I) chief Prof Saif-ud-Din Soz. Several former Ministers have also found space in the new list.
With today’s announcement of 69 candidates, the Congress has cleared names for 84 out of 87 Assembly seats in the State. It had already released list of 15 candidates for Phase-I elections for which nominations closed yesterday. The party has not named candidates so far for three seats including Basohli in Kathua district, Jammu West and Gulmarg in Baramulla district.
The Congress has generally banked upon old faces giving mandate to all Ministers, sitting legislators including MLAs and MLCs, former Ministers and ex-MLAs, who had lost the elections in 2008 Assembly polls. This is contrary to the BJP which has given mandate to several new faces in the list of 49 candidates released so far.
In some seats, however, the party has put up new faces including Chowdhary Akram, son of former Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader and MLA from Surankote Choudhary Aslam, who had recently passed away, Vikram Malhotra from Jammu East and party spokesman Ravinder Sharma, MLC from Nowshera.
Salman Anees Soz, the national face of Congress and son of Prof Soz, who also figured in party’s panel for national Television channels, has been fielded from Baramulla Assembly seat in the Kashmir Valley.
However, the party has not lagged behind in nominating kith and kin of senior leaders in some of the constituencies including Salman Soz, Vikram Malhotra, who happens to be son of Legislative Council Chairman Amrit Malhotra, Mumtaz Ahmad Khan, brother of Congress two times MLA and Minister Aijaz Khan, who has been nominated from Gulabgarh and Chowdhary Akram.
Aijaz Khan and Mumtaz Khan, the two real brothers, would be Congress candidates in neighbouring Assembly segments of Gool-Arnas and Gulabgarh in Reasi district.
The BJP has already announced that end of dynastic politics being pursued by National Conference, PDP and Congress will be its main poll plank. Therefore, the party had refused to give mandate to State president Jugal Kishore Sharma’s brother, Nand Kishore Sharma from Nagrota, a seat represented by Jugal for two consecutive terms before being elected to Lok Sabha from Jammu-Poonch seat.
With today’s list, Congress has cleared 35 out of 37 candidates in Jammu region, 45 out of 46 in Kashmir region and all four in Ladakh.
Party sources told the Excelsior that Youth Congress president Choudhary Shahnawaz Hussain, who was in the panel for Surankote Assembly seat, was dropped at the last moment as party veterans felt that loyalty of Choudhary Aslam to the party can’t be ignored. Aslam’s son, an Engineer had resigned from the services to join politics.
Sources said in Basohli and Jammu West seats, the Congress was awaiting consensus. In Basohli, the party was waiting the decision of BJP MLA Jagdish Raj Sapolia, who has been denied mandate by his party while in Jammu West, there were several contenders in the fray including Surinder Singh Shingari, Satish Sharma, Manmohan Singh, Vinod Sharma etc. In Gulmarg, the party has not named any candidate as sitting MLA and Agriculture Minister Ghulam Hassan Mir of DPN Party was associate members of the Congress.
In a surprise decision, the Congress has also given mandate to former party veteran and ex-Deputy Chief Minister Mangat Ram Sharma’s son, Rajnish Sharma (Mian) from Bani Assembly seat though Mangat had recently joined the PDP. Mangat’s elder son, Subash Sharma is PDP candidate from Kathua Assembly seat.
The Congress has repeated its sitting Ministers including Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand (Chhamb), Raman Bhalla (Gandhi Nagar), Sham Lal Sharma (Akhnoor), Manohar Lal Sharma (Billawar), Aijaz Ahmad Khan (Gool Arnas), Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed (Kokernag), GA Mir (Doru) and Taj Mohi-ud-Din (Uri).
Sitting MLAs and MLCs, who have been given party tickets by the Congress apart from eight Ministers are Shabir Ahmad Khan (Rajouri), Krishan Lal Bhagat (Chenani), Jugal Kishore Sharma (Reasi-MLC) and Ravinder Sharma (Nowshera-MLC).
Former Ministers and ex-legislators, whose names figured in today’s list of 69 candidates of the Congress, were Mula Ram (Raipur Domana), RS Chib (Suchetgarh), Suman Bhagat (RS Pura-Reserve), Gulchain Singh Charak (Bishnah), Abdul Gani Vakil (Rafiabad), Girdhari Lal Chalotra (Hiranagar-Reserve), Bashir Naz (Poonch Haveli), Ashok Sharma (Kalakote), Shiv Dev Singh (Nagrota), Manjeet Singh (Vijaypur), Jatinder Singh alias Babu Singh (Kathua), Khem Lata Wakhloo (Sonawar), Raman Mattoo (Habbakadal), Shoaib Nabi Lone (Sangrama) and Haji Abdul Rasheed Dar (Sopore).
Other candidates named by the Congress included Murtaza Khan, who had defected to party from PDP earlier (Mendhar), Mohammad Iqbal Malik (Darhal), Balwan Singh (Marh), Subash Bhagat (Samba-Reserve), Vinod Khajuria (Ramnagar) and Ashok Gupta (Udhampur).
The candidates from Kashmir are Irfan Ahmad Bhat Kullar (Pahalgam), Manzoor Ahmad Ganai (Bijbehara), Gulzar Ahmad Wani (Shangus), Mohammad Amin Bhat (Devsar), Hillal Ahmad Shah (Anantnag), Anyatullah Rather (Homeshalibugh), Peer Nizamuddin (Kulgam), Manzoor Ahmad Zargar (Noorabad), Mushtaq Ahmad Khandey (Shopian), Maroof Ahmad Wani (Wachi), Fayaz Ahmad Dar (Rajpora), Bashir Ahmad Magray (Pulwama), Mohammad Anwar Bhat (Pampore), Ghulam Mohammad Mir (Tral), Zahid Hussain Jan (Charar-i-Sharief), Abdul Ghani Naseem (Khansahib), Nazir Ahmad Khan (Beerwah), Ghulam Hassan Geelani (Badgam), Master Mohammad Maqbool (Chadoora), Abdul Hameed Rather (Batmaloo), Amir Rasool (Amirakadal), Mohammad Yaqoob Vakil (Khanyar), Imtiyaz Ahmad Khan (Idgah), Shameema Raina (Zadibal), Sayeed Ahmed (Hazratbal), Shaikh Riaz Ahmed (Pattan), Bashir Ahmad Wani (Langate), Mohammad Yasin Bhat (Handwara), Haji Farooq Ahmad Mir (Lolab), Ghulam Rasool Malik (Kupwara) and Asghar Khan (Karnah).
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