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| NC, PDP 'proxies' vote for BJP-backed Junaid Mattu | | Srinagar Mayor election | | Saahil Suhail
Early Times Report
SRINAGAR, Nov 6: Majority of the proxy candidates fielded by National Conference and People's Democratic Party in Srinagar Municipal Corporation elections on Tuesday threw surprises by voting in favour of the Peoples Conference candidate Junaid Azim Mattu and elected him as Mayor of the corporation.
Mattu secured 40 votes while Congress candidate for the Mayoral post Ghulam Rasool Hajam got 26 votes in the 74-member SMC, said Commissioner of the civic body Peer Hafizullah.
Out of 53 independent candidates, over 25 voted in favour of Mattu while 3 to 4 Congress candidates also indulged in cross-voting and voted in favour of the PC-BJP candidate, highly placed sources told Early Times.
Sheikh Imran was elected as the Deputy Mayor of SMC after majority of independents including PDP-NC proxies and some Congress candidates voted in his favour.
Prior to Mayor election, Sheikh Imran was assured support by top PDP and NC leadership. "Besides Congress, 30 independent candidates assured support to Sheikh Imran," an insider told Early Times few days ago. He revealed that independent candidates were putting up in a hotel located in Nishat area of Srinagar City.
Confusion started brewing up in the congress camp after the party top brass started projecting Hajam as Mayoral candidate. "Eight candidates didn't accept it and raised objections fallowing which Srinagar-based Congress leader summoned all 16 candidates and written examination of candidates were held at the leader's residence," claimed sources.
They said that Nakul Mattoo topped the examination by securing 92 points while Hajam secured 50 and an another candidate secured 42 points.
Nakul Mattoo, who spoke to Early Times, however said that it was an informal interview and that his name figured in the panel after interview of the candidates was held. "It wasn't written examination but was informal interview following which three names including mine, figured in panel," he said.
According to sources, on Tuesday at least four Congress candidates indulged in cross-voting and voted in favour of Junaid Mattu against directions of the Congress party.
The PDP MLA who backed at least 10 candidates also directed his candidates to vote for PC candidate while as NC Youth leader also directed his candidates to them to help his friend Junaid by voting in his favour.
Congress candidates, who spoke to Early Times, blamed senior party leader Tariq Karra. "He has hijacked the party. On election day he didn't come out to vote and prior to that he distributed tickets among those who were not even the members of Congress party," they said
They said that earlier this month he 'interrogated' congress candidates by asking them questions and seeking details of education qualifications. "He sought details of our education qualifications, asked as questions as if we were IAS aspirants," they said.
Congress candidates alleged that Karra by-passed party president Ghulam Ahmad Mir and conducted all meetings at his house. "He claimed that he got support of PDP as well of all the independent candidates of Sheikh Imran, but all his claims proved hoax," they said, adding that they have approached top Congress leadership and were expecting action. |
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