Three BJP candidates file nominations for Rajya Sabha polls
Hope MLAs vote by conscience for valley’s future: Jitendra Singh
Srinagar: Three candidates of the BJP on Monday filed their nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha elections being held for four seats of Jammu and Kashmir. The BJP has fielded candidates in three seats.
BJP Jammu and Kashmir president Sat Sharma, Ali Mohammad Mir, and Rakesh Mahajan filed their nominations here, before the Secretary of Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Manoj Kumar Pandita, who is the returning officer for the polls.
The BJP candidates were accompanied by Union Minister of State in PMO Jitendra Singh and Rajya Sabha member Ghulam Ali Khatana, among others.
Talking to reporters, senior BJP leader and Leader of Opposition in J-K Assembly Sunil Sharma said his party has fielded candidates for three of the four Rajya Sabha seats and all efforts would be made to win all three of them.
“We will do whatever it takes to win all three seats on which we have fielded candidates,” he said.
Earlier, the BJP candidates left the party headquarters at Jawahar Nagar in a procession towards the returning officer’s office.
The candidates were accompanied by most of the party MLAs and other leaders from the Valley.
The Election Commission of India has issued three notifications for the four Rajya Sabha seats in J-K, holding elections separately on two seats while the polls for the other two seats are being held under a common notification.
With an effective strength of 88 MLAs in the current legislative assembly, the BJP, which has 28 MLAs, has a realistic chance of winning only one seat. It will need help from non-BJP MLAs either to vote for its candidates or abstain from voting for the two seats under common notification.
Meanwhile, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said the BJP will not use any unfair means to win the Rajya Sabha elections in Jammu and Kashmir, but hoped that MLAs will vote by their conscience for the party’s candidates in the interest of the union territory.
“It is wrong to say that we (BJP) will incite cross-voting or indulge in buying votes. The BJP is a democratic party, we believe in and follow democratic principles,” Singh said.
If the MLAs listen to their conscience, it will tell them that the future of Jammu and Kashmir is safe in the hands of the BJP under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he added.
The Union Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office was speaking after accompanying the three BJP candidates who filed their nominations for the October 24 polls to four Rajya Sabha seats.
Singh said MLAs are expected to support leaders who are experienced and work for public welfare.
“Today, three BJP candidates – Sat Sharma, Ali Mohammad Mir and Rakesh Mahajan – have filed nominations. All three are experienced and have long been in public life. We expect the MLAs will help our candidates win as there is no whip in these polls,” he said.
The minister said welfare of Jammu and Kashmir has been a top priority for Prime Minister Modi since he assumed office in 2014.
“In the last 11 years, the prime minister has given the highest priority to Jammu and Kashmir. Even after the devastating floods in 2014, he spent his first Diwali as PM in the union territory,” Singh said. Hence, it is imperative to strengthen the BJP’s presence in the Rajya Sabha to raise Jammu and Kashmir’s voice in Parliament, he said.
