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Friday,
August 30, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Phase II
poll notification issued J&K
poll: BJP clears list of 20 candidates Awami
League to share seats with BJP, Cong Congress
to go it alone Ladakh
front’s Narboo wins J&K poll |
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Bid on
National Conference candidate’s life JD(S)
announces candidates BJP,
RSS-backed morcha row over seats Cellphone
services in J&K within 1 yr ISI
equips ultras with solar IEDs
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Phase II poll notification issued Srinagar, August 29 The Deputy Chief Electoral Officer, Mr B.S. Jamwal, said here that nomination papers can be filed upto September 5 and their scrutiny would be conducted by the respective returning officers on September 6. The last date for withdrawal of candidature, if any, has been fixed for September 9. Under the second phase, there are 13 constituencies in Jammu, 10 in Srinagar and five in Badgam districts. The four seats of Samba, R.S. Pura, Raipura-Domana and Chhamb in Jammu district are the Schedule Caste reserved segments. Mr Jamwal said over 2000 polling stations had been identified for the second phase of elections in the three districts of the state. In reply to a question, Mr Jamwal said that the poll staff requisitioned from the neighbouring states of Punjab and Uttar Pradesh would start arriving from September 7. The first batch of about 1,600 poll staff members would reach here on September 7 for
the first phase of elections, he said. Of the 28 constituencies, 19 are represented by the ruling National Conference, which include all the 15 seats from Srinagar and Badgam districts and four seats from Jammu district. The Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah, representing the Ganderbal Constituency in Srinagar district and his eight ministerial colleagues and a former minister in the Farooq Abdullah’s government represent various constituencies in these districts which go to the polls in the second phase. Three other ministers, Ghulam Mohiuddin Shah (Batamaloo), Ali Mohammad Sagar (Khanyar) and Mian Altaf representing the Kangan Constituency are the other ministers from Srinagar district. The National Conference chief whip, Mr Mubarak Gul, representing the Idgah constituency, also has ministerial status. The Assembly segment of Habbakadal in Srinagar district, that was represented by Pyare Lal Handoo, former Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister, fell vacant following his death last year. Two of the five constituencies in Badgam district are represented by ministers and include Abdul Rahim Rather (Chrar-e-Sharief) and Aga Syed Mehmood from the Beerwah constituency. The ruling National Conference ministers from Jammu district include Mr Ajat Shatru Singh from Nagrota, Mr S.S. Slathia from Vijaypur and Mr Ajay Sadhotra from Marh constituencies. These constituencies are also going to the polls in the second phase. A former minister, Mr Govind Ram, representing the Akhnoor constituency in Jammu district, was later dropped by Dr Farooq Abdullah from his Cabinet. The total number of electorate in the three districts of Srinagar, Jammu and Badgam is 19,69,829. Of these 10,93,203 voters are from the 13 segments of Jammu district and 8,76,626 from the twin districts of Srinagar and Badgam in Kashmir division. A total of 5,88,317 voters, including 3,13,398 men and 2,74,919 women are in Srinagar district, while Badgam district has 2,88,309 voters including 1,53,297 men and 1,35,012 women voters. |
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J&K poll: BJP clears list of 20 candidates New Delhi, August 29 While names of 17 candidates were announced for the third phase, three names were announced for the fourth phase, taking the total number of BJP candidates cleared for the fourth-phase poll beginning September 16 to 45 candidates. The BJP, which is contesting the poll in alliance with the RSS-sponsored Jammu State Morcha (JSM), had cleared 17 names for the first phase of polling and eight candidates for the second phase. The names cleared for the third phase are G.M. Shah (Pulwama), Ilias Ahmad (Rajpora), H.N. Kaul (Wachi), Mushtaq Noorabadi (Kulgam), G.M. Tantray (Homshali Bug), Vikram Bhatt (Anantnag), Fayaz Ahmad Bhatt (Devsar), S.M. Khatana (Doru Shahabad), Shoukat Hussain (Kokernag), Wali Mohd. Bhatt (Shangus), Sofi Yousf (Bij Bihara), Deen Mohd Cheeta (Mahore Gulabgarh), Gopal Das (Ram Nagar), Lal Chand (Bani), Jagdish Sapolia (Basholi) and Lal Chand (Kathua). For the fourth phase of polling, the BJP has cleared the candidature of Ch Salamudin (Inderwal), Swami Raj (Doda) and Daya Kishan Kotwal (Bhaderwah). Releasing the list, Mr Shastri said the party had decided to contest about 55 seats and names of the rest of the candidates would be released soon. |
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Awami League to share
seats with BJP, Cong Jammu, August 29 So far, 15 constituencies, according to Capt S.K. Tikoo, Awami League general Secretary, have been identified where the Congress, the BJP or the PDP had strong base. He told mediapersons here today that in these constituencies, the League “will not field its candidates to avoid split in the anti-NC vote.” The Awami League leader blamed the NC for trying to “sabotage” Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s commitment of holding free and fair poll in the state. He alleged that the NC had started misusing official agencies for wooing voters. He said several government buildings had been converted into NC election offices. He also alleged that the NC had begun “using men of the special operation group of the police for campaigning in favour of the ruling party candidates.” He urged Kashmiri Pandit organisations to withdraw their call for poll boycott on the plea that Pandits with over 1.60 lakh voters should play a vital role in defeating the NC under whose regime “the migrants were the worst-sufferers.” He said electronic voting machines should be installed in all polling stations earmarked for the Kashmiri migrants and this facility should have been extended to Kathua and Nagrota camps also. |
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Congress
to go it alone Srinagar, August 29 A former National Conference leader, Dr Abdul Ahad Yatto, who lost to Moulvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari of the Congress from Pattan constituency in 1996 Assembly elections, formally joined the Pradesh Congress at the Pradesh Congress Committee (PPC) office here yesterday. Those present on the occasion included the state PCC chief, Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad, and the former union minister, Prof Saifuddin Soz. Dr Yatto said he had joined the party along with 17 block presidents. “ We are leaving some seats, not for any political party.... We will like some seats to be left where people will be requested to vote for a secular party other than the ruling National Conference,” Mr Azad said here. The seats left in the first elections include Leh, where a newly constituted organisation is participating in the elections. A former minister and NC leader, Mr Pintoo Narboo, had been nominated as Congress candidate from Nobra constituency in Leh district of Ladakh region, Mr Azad said. The party got eight members, two from Kashmir valley, one from Ladakh and five members from Jammu province, elected to the 87-member House in 1996 elections. A former Congress leader Moulvi Ansari was inducted into the Farooq Abdullah government. Later he was expelled from the Congress and has now formally joined the NC. Moulvi Ansari would be fighting as NC candidate from Pattan Constituency against the Congress candidate, Dr Yatto. Though the ruling NC came out with its list of candidates for the first phase of elections simultaneously with the issuance of notification on August 22, the Congress was yet to formally announce the nominees. The PPC chief, however, claimed that this was being done for security of the candidates. Unless the nomination papers were filed, security of the candidates remained a matter of concern, Mr Azad said. Sources close to the Congress claim that the delay in finalising the candidates was also because of the efforts being made for a poll alliance with some like-minded parties such as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of the former Union Home Minister, Mr Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, against the ruling NC. Mr Sayeed’s daughter Mehbooba Mufti, who was elected as Congress candidate from Beijbehara constituency in Anantnag district in the1996 Assembly elections, later resigned from the party, to constitute the PDP. With the shifting of its only two members from the party Moulvi Ansari from Pattan and Ms Mufti from Beijbehara constituency, the Congress has no other representative of the 46 seats in Kashmir in the 87- member House. The PDP has got two elected members in the Legislative Assembly representing Beijbehara following the resignation of Ms Mufti from the
Congress. The other constituency of Langate in Kupwara district is also represented by Mohammad Sultan of the PDP following the death of NC member Abdul Ahad Wani who was killed by militants in May 1999. |
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Ladakh front’s Narboo wins J&K poll
Srinagar, August 29 However, Mr Narboo would be declared elected only after scrutiny of the papers on Sunday, sources said. Mr Narboo was the lone candidate to enter the fray from the Nobra constituency of Leh district of the frontier region of Ladakh on the last day of nominations for the first phase of the poll. Nobra, along with 25 other Assembly constituencies, spread over six districts of the state is going to polls on September 16. The ruling National Conference had decided to field Tsetan Namgyal from the seat, but he failed to file the nominations. The reasons for this decision are not known. Main political parties in Leh town have dissolved their units and launched a common front to fight for creating a separate union territory of Ladakh. The decision to float the Ladakh Union Territory Front was taken at the
initiative of the Ladakh Buddhist Association at a meeting of representatives of local units of all political parties, including the National Conference and the BJP, in Leh on August 25.
PTI |
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Bid on National Conference candidate’s life
Srinagar, August 29 An official spokesman said militants fired a few rifle grenades towards the security camp at Toto Ground, Batmaloo, from an unknown place around 12.35 p.m. today. However, the grenades missed the intended target and exploded outside the camp, causing injuries to a pedestrian who has been hospitalised. Today’s attack on the camp resulted in the death of two security personnel and injuries to several others. A report from Jammu said two ultras, including an area commander of the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM), were shot dead by the security forces in a fierce encounter in the Shahpur Karnetia area along the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch district today. The SSP, Poonch, Dr Kamal Saini, said acting on a tip-off that some ultras had infiltrated into this side of the border, the security forces launched an operation to flush them out. As the personnel reached their target area, the ultras opened fire on them. In the ensuing gunbattle, two ultras were killed. A report from Baramula said a bid was made on the life of the National Conference candidate from the Baramula Assembly constituency, Mr Ghulam Nabi Kachroo, by militants who fired a couple of grenades towards his house at Kanli Bagh last night. Official sources said militants fired a couple of grenades towards the house of Mr Kachroo from an unknown place last night. However, the grenades missed the house and exploded at a distance of about 200 ft in the compound without causing any damage. Mr Kachroo and his family members escaped unhurt. Another report from Srinagar, quoting official sources, said four persons, including a jawan, were injured as militants attacked security vehicles at two places in the Kashmir valley since last night. Militants lobbed a grenade and followed it by firing on a security vehicle at Sabzi Mandi near Batmaloo in central Srinagar today. Security personnel fired back in retaliation and in the shootout a civilian was injured. A jawan and a civilian were injured when a group of heavily-armed militants opened fire on the vehicle of 2 para unit at Chakoora near Shopian in Pulwama district last night, the sources said, adding that the troops retaliated, but the ultras managed to flee. Militants shot at and critically injured a released militant of the Al-Umar, Abdul Qadir, alias Sher Khan, outside his house at Malaratta in downtown Srinagar last night.
UNI, PTI |
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JD(S) announces candidates
Jammu, August 29 Releasing the list of JD (S) candidates, state unit chief Dhan Raj Bargotra told reporters that all political parties, including the BJP, the Congress and the BSP should dissolve their units in Jammu and contest elections unitedly on the pattern of the Ladakh Union Territory Front (LUTF). He said the NC had always discriminated against the people of the Jammu and Ladakh regions. He demanded that all poll officials should be from outside the state. JD (S) candidate Dhan Raj Bargotra will contest elections from the Nagrota constituency, Sat Pal Sharma from Gandhi Nagar, Balvinder Kaur from Suchetgarh, Sagar Singh from Kathua and Z.A. Bhatti from Rajouri.
PTI |
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BJP, RSS-backed morcha row over seats Jammu, August 29 Controversy over seat-sharing
deepened after the State Morcha, which is in the forefront of the campaign for the division of the state, announced its candidates for 12 of the 37 seats in the Jammu region and made it clear that it had plans of contesting 23 seats. 2As the two vital wings of the Sangh Parivar, the BJP and the RSS, went on a collision course the party high command deputed Union Minister of State for Defence, Prof Chaman Lal Gupta, who is also head of the Election Management Committee of the BJP, and Mr O.P. Kohli to resolve the differences. The two leaders had detailed discussion with senior RSS and BJP activists but could not persuade the State Morcha to remain content with contesting only six seats. Two senior BJP leaders, who preferred to remain unidentified, said that in case the State Morcha refused to “see the reality and leave Jammu East and Jammu West to the BJP, we will contest all 37 seats.” They said since the BJP had won from these two constituencies there was no question of surrendering these seats to the RSS. They did not see a major threat to the BJP if the RSS refused to share seats with it on the plea that while the RSS “banks on its activists the BJP had a widespread cadre of workers and supporters.” The BJP leaders were of the opinion that if the RSS fielded candidates in constituencies considered to be BJP stronghold it might only help the Congress and the National Conference. Large delegations of BJP workers from Kathua, Samba and Akhnoor marched to the BJP headquarter here today demanding ticket for BJP men from these areas where the RSS had already fielded its candidates. The police had to intervene when BJP workers raised slogans. In the second round of talks with RSS and BJP leaders here this evening the Union Minister of State for Defence, Prof Chaman Lal Gupta, conveyed to the State Morcha leaders that there was no question of compromise on the seats which were won by the BJP in 1996-election, which included Udhampur, Jammu East, Jammu West, Reasi, Chenani. Prof. Gupta told The Tribune that the BJP high command had already conveyed to the Sangh Parivar that the pro-Sangh votes should not get divided. It is in this connection that the parleys between the two sides will continue tomorrow also. The senior BJP leaders who were closeted with Prof Gupta pressed for strong stand for avoiding defeat of the BJP, an old Organisation and which has fought several elections in the state. |
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Cellphone
services in J&K within 1 yr Jammu, August 29 Announcing this here today, Mr P.C. Chhabra, Chief General Manager, BSNL, said the sanction for introducing the service was received yesterday. “The service will be provided by the BSNL while Erricson will install equipment on a turnkey basis,” he added. Mr Chhabra said WLL mobile equipment had been installed and connections would be
released soon after the Assembly elections in the state. New Internet connections were being released on demand, he
added. |
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ISI equips ultras with solar IEDs Jammu, August 29 A solar IED can be triggered off by the first ray of the sun or even artificial light, and can cause maximum damage and casualties at the targeted site, they said. Ultras had been asked to fix these IEDs in forest areas near roads where convoys of the security forces or search parties usually pass, they said, adding that such devices had been recovered in recent raids on militant hideouts.
PTI |
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