Parties running against time to finalise their candidates

Srinagar, Aug 25: With only one day left to file the nomination papers for the first phase of the assembly polls, the contesting political parties are running against time to finalise the list of their respective candidates.

August 27 is the last date for filing the nominations and tomorrow is a gazetted holiday on Janmashtami. So, the candidates, who intend to file nominations for the first phase and have not yet done so, will have to do so on August 27 only.

Neither the National Conference nor Congress have released the list of their candidates yet due to the differences regarding seat sharing on some constituencies. The two parties recently formed a pre-poll alliance and engaged in talks for seat sharing. Following the tough stance taken by the leaders of the two parties on several seats, the seat sharing could not be finalised.

Reliable sources said that no meeting could be held today as the NC and Congress leaders were busy with their respective poll-related engagements. The leaders are expected to meet tomorrow morning again and if everything goes well the seat sharing will be finalised and subsequently the candidates announced.

Earlier, there were reports that the alliances despite its formation announcement may not materialise because of the seat-sharing differences. And secondly also because of the the attack launched by Union Home Minister Amit Shah against Congress for joining hands with NC, which advocates restoration of autonomy, Article 370, 35 A and release of political prisoners. Reports were doing rounds that Congress keeping in view its political interests at the national level may leave the alliance on the pretext of differences on seat sharing.

However, National Conference (NC) Vice President Omar Abdullah told the media that neither NC nor Congress has said that they will leave the alliance.  “When top leadership has formed the alliance and made its announcement that shows that we are very much serious about it. Differences do occur in such matters. Both Congress and NC are adamant on some seats and these differences will be sorted out,” he told media.

As per reports Omar will himself contest from the Ganderbal assembly constituency, where he addressed a public rally today.  NC’s senior leader Sakina Itoo filed her nomination papers for the Damhal Hanjipora constituency a few days back.

The Central Election Committee of BJP  this evening held a high-level meeting in  New Delhi to finalise the list of its candidates for J&K assembly polls. The meeting was chaired by the BJP National President and Union Minister J P Nadda and was also attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. BJP is expected to release the first list of its candidates tonight or tomorrow morning.

The Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) headed by  Ghulam Nabi Azad released the first list of its 13 candidates today.   PDP and Apni Party have already released the list of some of their candidates. Among them, some have filed their nomination papers also. These parties will have to release the list of the remaining candidates for the first phase so that they can file nominations in time. Some candidates of the People’s Conference have also filed their nominations.

Several independent candidates have also filed their nomination papers, while some others are in the process of doing so. Reports say that some leaders of banned Jammat-e-Islami will also contest assembly polls as independent candidates.