JK Polls: J&K Congress list ‘almost ready’, most sitting MLAs and ministers likely to be retained, Jammu Kashmir election news updates, J&K political news , J&K assembly election 2014

JK Polls: J&K Congress list ‘almost ready’, most sitting MLAs and ministers likely to be retained 

The Congress has almost finalised its list of candidates for the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections. While most sitting MLAs and ministers are in it, the party has left some seats vacant in the Valley for its allies.

In 2008, the Congress bagged 17 seats in the state, and later formed a coalition government with the National Conference. However, this time the Congress is contesting the elections alone. No NC or Congress candidate won a seat in the Lok Sabha elections this summer. Of the six seats in the state, the PDP and BJP won three each.

“The list of candidates has been almost finalised by the party high command, and will be released any time now,” J&KPCC president Saifudin Soz told The Indian Express on Wednesday. The two prominent faces of the party in J&K, Soz and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha and former J&K chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, will not contest the elections.

The Congress is, however, learnt to have decided to field Soz’s son, Salman Anees Soz, from the Baramulla assembly constituency. Salman, 44, has worked at the World Bank as a senior urban specialist and head of disaster management in Central Asia. He is now a national spokesperson for the Congress.

All three Congress ministers in the outgoing government — Taj Mohidin, Ghulam Ahmad Mir and Pirzada Mohammad Syed — are likely to be renominated from Uri, Dooru and Kokernag assembly segments respectively. The Congress has been winning these seats since 2002.

The party has decided not to field any candidate at Tangmarg, represented by Agriculture Minister Ghulam Hassan Mir, who was considered an ally of the party. From Bandipore, the Congress is learnt to have decided to field counterinsurgent-turned-politician Usman Majeed, the former minister who won the seat in 2002 as an Independent candidate. From Sonawari, the Congress ticket is likely to go to Imtiyaz Parray, the son of former top counterinsurgent Kuka Parray.

• From Sangrama, the party has decided to field Shoaib Nabi Lone, a former Youth Congress leader and former member of the state assembly.
• The ticket from Kargil is likely to go to Asghar Karbalai, chairman of the Kargil Hill Council, who also enjoys the backing of the powerful religious group, Imam Khomeini Memorial Trust.
• The neighbouring Zanskar seat is likely to be contested by Ghulam Reza, who lost the Lok Sabha election to the BJP candidate by a margin of just 36 votes.

In Jammu too, the Congress is learnt to have decided to field all sitting assembly members and ministers. There is, however, uncertaintly about Rajouri, represented by former health minister Shabir Khan who was dropped from the state cabinet after a woman doctor accused him of molestation in the Srinagar civil secretariat. Besides Shabir Khan, the party has sent two other names for the leadership to choose from.

• The party has decided to nominate veterans Janak Raj Gupta from Jammu East, Gulchain Singh Charak from Bishna, and Jugal Kishore from Reasi, sources said.
• In the Chenab Valley, which is considered to be a Congress stronghold, the party has decided to field Majid Wani Doda), G M Saroori (Inderwal) and Sharief Niyaz (Baderwah).
  

src:indianexpress

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