BJP candidates file nomination for three Rajya Sabha seats from J&K

Srinagar, Oct 13 (IANS) Three BJP candidates from Jammu and Kashmir filed their nomination papers on Monday in Srinagar for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections scheduled for October 24.

The three were accompanied by senior party leader and Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh, Rajya Sabha member Ghulam Ali Khatana, Leader of Opposition (LoP) in J&K Assembly, Sunil Sharma and other party MLAs.

BJP J&K President Sat Pal Sharma, along with two other candidates, Dr Ali Muhammad Mir and Rakesh Mahajan, submitted their nomination papers for the elections.

They arrived at the Assembly Secretariat complex and submitted their nomination papers to the Returning Officer, Manoj Pandita, Secretary of the Legislative Assembly, who is the Returning Officer for the election.

While the BJP holds a strong position for the seat being contested by Sat Pal Sharma, the party has fielded Dr Ali Muhammad Mir and Rakesh Mahajan for a symbolic contest on seats likely to be won by the National Conference (NC) candidates -- Chowdhary Mohammad Ramzan and Sajad Kichloo.

The ruling alliance, led by the NC, is comfortably positioned to secure three seats.

The NC had offered the fourth seat, considered to be ‘risky’ to the Congress, which ultimately decided not to contest.

The third NC candidate is the party treasurer, Shami Oberoi. The Congress party had a marathon session of its six MLAs and other leaders under the chairmanship of J&K Pradesh Congress committee president, Tariq Hameed Karra, on Sunday.

The party decided that it would not contest the Rajya Sabha elections after the NC did not concede to the Congress party's request to offer the party a safe seat.

The NC has fielded its candidates for the three safe Rajya Sabha seats, while the BJP, with 28 votes against the NC-Congress alliance of 24 votes, is comfortably placed to win the fourth seat.

The ruling National Conference (NC) on Friday announced its candidates for three seats for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections, and for the 4th seat, the party informed that talks are underway with Congress. Senior NC leaders, Choudhary Muhammad Ramzan, Shammi Oberoi, and Sajad Kichloo, have been nominated to contest the Rajya Sabha polls.

--IANS

sq/dpb