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| Congress on a sticky wicket | | Ladakh's election scene | | Rustam
JAMMU, May 5: The people of Ladakh will go to the polls on May 7 to elect their Lok Sabha member. Four prominent candidates are in the fray. They are Thupstan Chhewang of the BJP, T Samphal of the Congress, Imam Khomeini Memorial Trust Kargil-supported independent candidate Ghulam Raza and Islamia School Kargil-backed independent candidate Kazim Sabri. Ghulam Raza is also supported by Congress leader and Chief Executive Councilor Kargil Haji Asgar Karbalaie. In fact, Ghulam Raza resigned from the post of Congress district president and filed nomination papers to fight for the Ladakh Lok Sabha. Haji Asgar Karbalaie played an important role.
As for Kazim Sabri, he is getting overt and covert support from the NC. Interestingly, T Samphal is the joint-candidate of the Congress and the NC. In other words, a section of local Congress leadership, besides Imam Khomeini Memorial Trust Kargil, which has considerable influence over the Shiite Muslims, and Islamia School Kargil, which is an old ally of the NC, are not only fighting against each other, but also against the Congress and the BJP candidates, thus adding to the difficulties of the Congress candidate, who enjoys the full backing of Nwang Rigzin Jora, Minister in the Omar Abdullah-led Government and the one held responsible for weakening the Union Territory status movement in the region. P Namgyal, former Union Minister, is also at the back and call of T Samphal.
On the face of it one can say that it is a four-cornered contest. However, two things are manifestly clear as far as the Ladakhi election scene is concerned. T Samphal, who depends on Buddhist and Shiite Muslim votes to make it to the Lok Sabha, is finding it extremely difficult to carry conviction with both major communities, one that dominates Leh, Kargil and Zanskar tehsil in Kargil district and the other that dominates Kargil district. It would be a great achievement of the Congress if it could wean away some Shiite voters from Ghulam Raza and Kazim Sabri. In fact, the general view in Kargil and parts of Leh district is that the bulk of Shiite votes would be shared between the two independent candidates belonging to the same community and the Congress candidate is unlikely to get many votes from this community. In other words, the presence of two prominent Shiite candidates in the electoral arena has made the task of T Samphal extremely difficult.
On the contrary, the presence of the Shiite candidates is helping the BJP candidate Thupstan Chhewang. Chhewang is also fortunate in the sense that a number of BJP leaders from the state and the Centre, including former BJP national president Nitin Gadkari, BJP national vice-president and prominent Shiite leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, state in-charge Avinash Rai Khana and many others, have actively campaigned for the BJP candidate. Earlier, on May 1, Naqvi also addressed three very-largely attended election meetings in Kargil, Drass and Zanskar. Not just this, on Sunday, BJP Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi struck an emotional chord with the Ladakhis through a 4.26-minute video message in which he said that he would want to see a BJP candidate represent Ladakh in the Lok Sabha. "It is my desire that Ladakh should have a BJP representative in Parliament so that issues of this region could be effectively taken up for immediate redressal," he in his message said. "Had I got the opportunity of direct interaction with you it would have been a happiest moment for me, but as you know I am traveling every nook and corner of the country to address rallies so unfortunately I could not get the opportunity to meet you," his emotional message also said. Thousands and thousands of Ladakhis saw the video at the historic Polo Ground, Leh, where Nitin Gadkari, along with many BJP leaders, addressed a mammoth election rally. The regret of Narendra Modi over his inability to have an interaction with the Ladakhis will surely do wonders in the trans-Himalayan region.
All in all, it can be said that T Samphal is standing on a sticky wicket and the electoral chances of Chhewang are quite bright. In any case, people would come to know on May 16 as to who wins and who loses the election in Ladakh. |
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