Fierce contest on cards as 37 file papers in Jammu, 14 in Baramulla

LS Polls Phase-I

JAMMU: It will be multi-cornered contest for election to Jammu and Baramulla constituencies, both of which would go to polls in the first phase of Lok Sabha polls as a total of 37 candidates and 14 candidates have filed nomination to the crucial seats on Monday, when the process of filing papers ended.

Scrutiny of nomination papers will take place on Tuesday, while March 28 is the last date of withdrawal of candidature and the election would be held on April 11.

As many as 33 new candidates filed their nominations for the Jammu-Poonch Parliamentary Constituency here before the Returning Officer Ramesh Kumar (Deputy Commissioner Jammu), besides two more who filed their second nominations.

Adding two more who had filed their papers earlier, there are now 37 candidates in fray for the prestigious seat.

Sitting BJP MP Jugal Kishore, Syed Aqib Hussain of Independent People's Party, Rajiv Chuni and Subhash Chander had filed their nominations last week-- the former two filed their second nomination from the constituency today on the last day of filing of nominations.

The 33 new candidates who filed their papers today included political heavyweights such as Raman Bhalla of Congress, BJP rebel Lal Singh who has now formed Dogra Swabhiman Sangathan Party, and Prof. Bhim Singh of JK National Panthers Party.

While Jugal Kishore is the sitting MP from the constituency, he will have a tough fight from Bhalla, who is supported by major regional party National Conference, even as PDP made his way easier by not fielding any candidate against him.

Lal Singh, who turned out of favour with BJP last year, is also expected to cause a heavy damage to the vote share of the saffron party.

Interestingly, Singh’s wife, Kanta Andotra has also filed nomination from the seat.

The others who filed their nominations today included Badrinath of BSP, Mohammad Younis of JK Peer Panjal Awami Party, Susheel Kumar Hindustan of Nirman Dal, Javaid Ahmed of All India Forward Bloc, Naresh Kumar Talla of Jai Prakash Janta Dal National Party, Gursagar Singh of Navarang Congress Party, Talib Hussain of Rashtriya Lok Dal, Vicky Kumar Dogra of Janta Dal United and Shazbad Shabnam, Perseen Singh, Ghulam Mustafa Chowdhary, Satish Poonchi, Tej Ram Dogra, Bahadur, Javed Iqbal Rishi, Manish Sahni, Sakander Ahmad Nourani, Tarsem Lal Khullar, Mansoor Ahmed Khan, Balwan Singh, Kabir Hussain, Syed Zeshan Haider, Anil Singh, Surjeet Singh, Ajay Kumar, Suresh Kumar, Jasvir Singh, Labha Ram and Mohammad Raouf as independents.

In north Kashmir’s Baramulla Lok Sabha constituency, though the number of candidates is low, the contest is not going to be any less fierce.

On Monday, 10 candidates filed nomination papers, taking the total number of candidates in the north Kashmir seat to 14.

"We have received 14 nomination papers from candidates, put up by various political parties or individuals as independents, till the end of nomination filing process today (Monday)," an election official told.

BJP candidate Mohammad Maqbool War, Congress nominee Farooq Ahmad Mir and former MLA Langate Abdul Rashid Sheikh were among the prominent persons to file their nomination papers.
Congress leader Salman Soz had also obtained nomination papers from the election authorities last week but did not file as the party decided to field Mir from the north Kashmir seat.

Former speaker of Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly Mohammad Akbar Lone (National Conference), former employees' union leader Abdul Qayoom Wani (PDP), and former IPS officer Raja Aijaz Ali (Peoples Conference) had filed their nomination papers on March 22.

The other candidates in the fray are Jehangir Khan (JKNPP) and independent candidates Syed Aamir Sohail, Syed Najeed Shah, Abdul Rasheed Shaheen, Javaid Ahmad Qureshi, Syed Muzaffar Ali, Abdul Majeed Bhat and Mohammad Abdullah Chatwal.