Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, July 15: Ruling National Conference today announced the first list of its 32 candidates for the forthcoming Assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir, giving mandate to 20 of the 28 sitting MLAs.
Speaker of State Legislative Assembly Mubarak Gul and 10 Ministers were included in the list of the candidates announced by party’s General Secretary Ali Mohammad Sagar after the Parliamentary Board meeting chaired by working president Omar Abdullah.
The party president Farooq Abdullah has vetted the list which includes only one new face as the party has stood by the even those candidates who had lost to opposition candidates in the 2008 Assembly polls.
The list included 19 candidates for Kashmir, 12 for Jammu division and one for Ladakh region, a statement said.
Interestingly, the NC has not announced the candidates for Ganderbal, Hazratbal and Sonawar Assembly segments. Omar, his uncle Mustafa Kamaal and Farooq Abdullah had won from these seats respectively in 2008 elections.
The Parliamentary Board comprising of Abdul Rahim Rather (Finance Minister), Sagar (Rural Development Minister), Choudhary Mohammad Ramzan (CAPD Minister), S Harbans Singh, Qamar Ali Akhoon, Nasir Aslam Wani (provincial president, Kashmir) and Devender Singh Rana (provincial president, Jammu) met here and discussed the panels of candidates received from the Block and the District Committees of the party.
“After three hour deliberations the party declared the list of 32 candidates and decided to meet later this week to discuss the other seats,” the statement said.
The names of the Ministers in the list include Rather from his Charar-e-Sharief constituency, Sagar (Khanyar), Ramzan (Handwara), Forest Minister Mian Altaf (Kangan), Education Minister Mohammad Akbar Lone (Sonawari), Social Welfare Minister Sakina Itoo (Noorabad), Law Minister Mir Saifullah (Kupwara), Minister of State for Home Sajjad Ahmad Kitchloo (Kishtwar) and Minister of State for Animal and Sheep Husbandry Nazir Ahmad Khan Gurezi (Gurez).
However, MoS Feroz Khan, MLA Zanskar was the only Minister whose name didn’t figure in today’s list released by the NC.
Dharamveer Singh Jamwal is the only new face in the list. He has been given the mandate from Jammu West which was won by Chaman Lal Gupta on BJP ticket in the last Assembly elections. NC had fielded Chander Mohan Sharma in 2008 polls who had stood a distant fourth in the segment.
Tsetan Namgyal, who had won from Nobra constituency of Ladakh region in 2008 assembly polls as an independent, is the party’s choice from the seat.
Prominent candidates in the list are Provincial president and former Minister Nasir Aslam Wani (Amirakadal constituency), Chairperson of State Women’s Commission Shameema Firdous (Habbakadal), former Ministers Javid Ahmad Dar (Rafiabad) and Agha Syed Ruhullah (Budgam), Mir Saifullah (Kupwara), Aijaz Jan (Poonch-Haveli) and Surjit Singh Slathia (Vijapur).
Speaker Gul is the party candidate from his Eidgah constituency in downtown Srinagar, while the party has reposed faith in Planning Minister Ajay Kumar Sadhotra who has been given ticket from Marh, Qaiser Jamshed Lone (Lolab), Bashir Ahmad Veeri (Bijbehara).
Advocate Abdul Majeed will (Homshalibugh), Mohammad Ashraf Bhat (Tral), Showket Ahmad Ganai (Wachi), Javed Ahmad Rana (Mendhar), Jagjeevan Lal (Reasi), Ramesh Motton (R S Pora), Choudhary Liyaqat (Darhaal). All these candidates had lost the last assembly elections.
The NC has not announced the candidates for the constituencies represented by the Congress. However, sources said that if there is no pre-poll or any seat sharing agreement list of 5 more candidates has been finalized. They are Mohammad Shafi Uri will contest from Uri, Ghulam Nabi Adgami from Kokernag, Khalid Najeeb Sohrawardy from Doda, Chaman Lal from Ramban and Sardar Harbans Singh from Jammu Cantt. The names of these candidates have been cleared and will be announced after the approval from NC president Dr Farooq Abdullah.
Opposition People’s Democratic Party took lead when it announced the first list of the candidates for the upcoming Assembly polls in June and followed it by two more lists so far. The party has announced 60 candidates for the 87-member House.
Trending Now
E-Paper
Follow our WhatsApp channel