- Raina, Karra, Omar, Sarjan Barkati among contestants
Jammu, Sept 05: More than 300 candidates have filed nominations for 26 assembly constituencies which are going to polls in the second phase of the three-phase Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections, including former chief minister Omar Abdullah, and UT party presidents of BJP and Congress-Ravinder Raina and Tariq Hameed Karra.
Thursday was the last day of filing nomination papers for the second phase voting for which will be held on September 25.
As many as 310 candidates have filed their nomination papers across 26 assembly constituencies of six districts of Jammu and Kashmir in the second phase, an official spokesperson said. The highest of 20 candidates have filed nominations from Habbakadal, while the lowest six are from Kangan.
A total of 310 candidates have filed 329 nomination papers for the second phase, the spokesperson said.
As many as 112 candidates have filed their nominations in Srinagar district, followed by 68 in Budgam district, 47 in Rajouri district, 35 in Poonch district, while 24 candidates each have filed nominations in Reasi and Ganderbal districts, he said.
National Conference (NC) vice-president Omar Abdullah on Thursday filed his nomination papers to contest the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly polls from Budgam.
Abdullah was accompanied by senior NC leaders Aga Ruhullah Mehdi, Aga Mehmood, party treasurer Shammi Oberoi and provincial secretary Shaukat Mir.
The former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister will contest the polls from two constituencies. He filed his papers from the family bastion of Ganderbal on Wednesday.
Jammu and Kashmir BJP chief Ravinder Raina also filed his nomination papers from the Nowshera Assembly constituency in Rajouri district.
Raina held a roadshow in Nowshera with RSS functionary and former BJP general secretary Ram Madhav. This marks Raina’s second contest from the seat.
“This isn’t just my candidacy, it represents the aspirations of 1.25 lakh people of the Nowshera constituency. It is their mandate and the voice of the people. The overwhelming turnout here, reminiscent of (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi ji’s rallies, shows BJP’s imminent victory,” Raina said during a public rally.
Raina thanked the people for their support, asserting that the massive turnout was a promising sign for the BJP’s prospects in the elections.
“The people of Nowshera await us with even greater enthusiasm,” he added.
Expressing confidence in the BJP’s victory in the polls, Raina said he was hopeful that the party would form government with a majority.
Raina also criticised Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and his alliance partner National Conference for allegedly disrespecting the region’s Maharajas.
“The people of Jammu and Kashmir will respond to the Congress and its allies,” he asserted.
He further denounced the alleged remarks against tribals by some NC leaders and said the people would teach them a lesson in the elections.
Raina,47, who previously won from Nowshera in the 2014 polls, has been nominated once again from his home constituency. He took over as BJP’s Jammu and Kashmir president in May 2018.
Raina’s primary opponent is former MLC Surinder Choudhary, who joined the National Conference in July 2023 after over a year with the BJP.
Jammu and Kashmir Congress president Tariq Hameed Karra also filed nomination papers from the Central Shalteng Assembly constituency on Thursday.
He urged the people to vote wisely asserting that it was not just an election after 10 years, but an opportunity to shape Jammu and Kashmir’s destiny “for the next 100 years”.
The 69-year-old former Jammu and Kashmir minister also defended his party’s alliance with the National Conference, saying it was to fight against “dictatorship” and to “reclaim what is rightfully ours”.
Accompanied by enthusiastic supporters who hailed him with slogans, Karra filed his papers before the returning officer for the constituency.
“This moment marks a sacred responsibility for generations to come as I filed my nomination for the assembly elections. This is not just my nomination, but a representation of the aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir who have yearned for democracy and justice,” he told PTI.
Karra, a former PDP leader, who quit the party in 2016. He was a fierce critic of the BJP-PDP alliance in Jammu and Kashmir that lasted for three years before ending in 2018.
He joined the Congress in 2017, a few months after he resigned from the Lok Sabha and the basic membership of the PDP.
He handed the first-ever electoral defeat to NC president and former chief minister Farooq Abdullah by winning the Srinagar parliamentary constituency in the 2014 general elections.
“This nomination is a tribute to every single Kashmiri who has cried for democracy, and every single citizen of Jammu and Kashmir who laid down his life for the sake of secularism and democratic values. It is a symbol of hope and resilience in the face of oppression and suppression,” the Congress leader said.
Karra, who took over as the Pradesh Congress Committee chief in August, replacing former minister Vikar Rasool Wani, said: “This is not just an election after 10 years, but a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to shape J&K’s destiny for the next 100 years.”
On the National Conference-Congress alliance, he said the pact demonstrates the strength and unity of the two parties against “dictatorship”.
“Together, we will fight for the rights of the people, restoration of statehood, and protection of our unique identity. The BJP’s policies of divide and rule and divisive politics will not succeed here. We will not be silenced or suppressed. We will rise and reclaim what is rightfully ours,” Karra said.
The NC and the Congress have agreed on a seat-sharing arrangement for the 90 assembly seats, with the National Conference set to contest 51 of them and the Congress 32.
The CPI(M) and the Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP) have been allocated one seat each, while both parties are having a “friendly contest” on five seats.
To a question about several independent candidates contesting the assembly polls, the Karra said the independents are being fielded “for fragmentation of votes.”
“That is why it becomes more of a duty for the people to see what is right and wrong,” he added.
Asked about BJP leader Ram Madhav alleging that ex-militants were campaigning for the NC and PDP candidates in the valley, Karra said Madhav should know “who are the people the BJP has recruited here?”
“Perhaps he has more information as well as experience about it,” he also said.
On Union MoS Jitendra Singh’s saying that the NC-Congress alliance has been formed to disturb the harmony in J-K, Karra said BJP has been flustered by the pact.
“They also form alliances nationwide, why are they troubled by this alliance?Perhaps they are seeing their dreams of last ten years getting shattered,” he said.
Jailed Kashmiri cleric Sarjan Ahmad Wagay on Thursday filed nomination papers for the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly polls from two seats, Ganderbal and Beerwah, days after his candidature was rejected from another constituency.
Wagay, popularly known as Sarjan Barkati, a prominent face at the protest rallies in the south Kashmir districts of Shopian and Kulgam after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in 2016, had earlier filed his nomination from the Zainpora Assembly constituency in Shopian.
However, his nomination was rejected because the papers did not include the certificate of oath that was to be duly signed by the jail authorities.
On Thursday, Barkati’s representatives filed his nomination papers from Ganderbal as well as from Beerwah.
Barkati was first arrested in 2016 and booked under the Public Safety Act.
He was again arrested last year and is facing charges under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
According to the chargesheet filed against him in a court earlier this year, Barkati — an active ideologue, promoter and supporter of the terrorist-secessionist nexus — hatched a criminal conspiracy with others, including his family members, to facilitate, aid, incite, advise, advocate and promote terrorist and secessionist ideologies and activities through his inflammatory speeches.
“Through such audio-video inflammatory speeches, he has incited, instigated and provoked youth to join the terrorist ranks,” the chargesheet reads.
Meanwhile, the election authorities also detailed the assembly constituency-wise breakup of the candidates who have filed their nominations in the second phase.
In Jammu division, for the three assembly constituencies (ACs) in Reasi district, a total of seven candidates have filed nomination from Gulabgarh (ST), 10 from Reasi, while seven candidates have filed nomination from Shri Mata Vaishno Devi.
In the five seats in Rajouri district, 11 candidates have filed nomination from Kalakote-Sunderbani, seven from Nowshera, 14 from Rajouri (ST), seven from Budhal (ST), while eight from Thannamandi (ST), the spokesperson said.
For the three ACs in Poonch district, 11 candidates have filed nomination from Surankote (ST), 13 from Poonch Haveli, and 11 from Mendhar (ST).
In the Kashmir division, for the two seats in Ganderbal district, six candidates have filed nomination from Kangan (ST), while 18 from Ganderbal.
For the eight seats in the Srinagar district, a total of 18 candidates have filed nomination from Hazratbal, 10 from Khanyar, 20 from Habbakadal, 12 from Lal Chowk, nine from Channapora, 15 from Zadibal, 15 from Eidgah, and 13 from Central Shalteng.
The official said in the five seats in Budgam district, 12 candidates have filed nomination from Budgam, 18 from Beerwah, 17 from Khansahib, 12 from Charar-i-Sharief, and nine from Chadoora.
He said the nomination papers will be scrutinised by the respective returning officers on Friday, while the candidates can withdraw their nomination by or before September 9 up to 3 pm.
