Both parties term it ‘friendly contest’
Post-poll tie-up stands on equal basis
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Aug 21: Even as National Conference struggled to get the party symbol for its candidates contesting election for Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) Kargil, the pre-poll alliance between NC and Congress too hasn’t matured barring three to four seats though leadership of both the parties dubbed the contest on rest of the constituencies as “friendly fight”.
District presidents of National Conference and Congress confirmed to the Excelsior that they will contest anything between 20-22 seats while leaving three to four seats for the allies. Election will be held for 26 seats in 30-member Hill Council while four Councilors with voting rights are nominated by the Union Territory Ladakh administration after the polling process is over.
Nassir Munshi, district president Congress told the Excelsior on telephone from Kargil that the Congress has announced 18 candidates so far out of 26 seats and is likely to announce three to four more candidates as August 23 is last date for filing nomination papers.
“We are likely to contest roughly 22-23 seats in the Hill Development Council and may leave two to three for the National Conference where their candidates are strong,” Munshi said, adding that the National Conference is also expected to leave three to four seats for the Congress.
National Conference district president Haji Hanifa Jan too shared almost similar views.
He stated that the National Conference is also expected to contest around 22 seats in the Hill Council while leaving rest for the Congress where their candidates stand good chance of winning.
However, leaders of National Conference and Congress admitted that they are committed to post-poll alliance to form their City Government in the Kargil Hill Council to stop the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from coming to power for the first time in the district.
“Our post-poll alliance stands. We will share the power equally i.e. out of four Executive Councilors (who have rank of the Ministers), both National Conference and Congress will have two each. Post of the Council Chairperson-cum-CEC will be rotated for two and half years each,” the leaders said.
On who will have the post of Chairperson for first term, they said a decision will be taken unanimously.
Leaders from both National Conference and Congress described contest on around 20-22 seats by both the parties in 26-member Council as “friendly fight”.
However, political observers were of the view that since both the parties remained arch and primary rivals in Kargil for a long time, their leaders at the ground level wanted to contest elections on maximum seats and it was in view of this that pre-poll alliance between them remained confined to four-five seats.
On the other, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has also started fielding candidates for maximum number of seats in the LAHDC Kargil. Senior BJP leaders from Jammu and Kashmir have also reached Kargil to assist the party local unit in campaign.
In the outgoing Council, National Conference had emerged single largest party with 10 seats, followed by Congress eight, PDP two, BJP one and Independents five. Initially, NC and Congress joined hands to form the Government in the Council. Later, NC parted ways with Congress and formed City Government with the support of Independents and a BJP Councilor.
Both PDP Councilors, however, later joined the BJP. With four nominated Councilors also affiliated to the party, the BJP strength subsequently rose to seven.
August 23 is last date for filing nomination papers for the LAHDC Kargil. Scrutiny of papers will be held on August 24 and the candidates can withdraw their papers till August 26.
Polling for all 26 seats will be held on September 10 and counting will take place on September 14.
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