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| Soz, Azad have cakewalk to Rajya Sabha; | | Farooq, 3 others to fight it out on Feb 13 | |
Early Times Report
Jammu, Feb 6: After no withdrawal of nominations on Friday for the Rajya Sabha elections , Union Minister for Water Resources Prof Saifuddin Soz and former Chief Minister of the state, Ghulam Nabi Azad were declared elected uncontested for Rajya Sabha on the last date for withdrawal of nomination for the upper house.
Soz and Azad were the only candidates to file their papers against Notification No. 1 and 2. There will be election on February 13 for remaining two seats for which National Conference President Dr Farooq Abdullah, his senior party colleague Mohammad Shafi Uri, Peoples Democratic Party nominee Syed Altaf Hussain Bukhari and BJP candidate Advocate Ashok Vijay Gupta are in fray.
The announcement was made by the returning officer in Jammu. Soon after the announcement Congress workers switched to celebrations mode. Congress workers were seen dancing on the roads and beating drums.
Four seats of Rajya Sabha had fallen vacant on November 25 and 29 last year and elections to them couldn't be held in time as the 10th Assembly had been dissolved. The Rajya Sabha members, who had retired in November include Prof Soz and Choudhary Muhammad Aslam (both Congress), Dr Abdullah (NC) and Tarlok Singh Bajwa (PDP). In 2002, four candidates were elected to Rajya Sabha uncontested. They include Prof Soz and Azad (Congress), Dr Abdullah (NC) and Bajwa (PDP). However, Azad had quit his Rajya Sabha seat in 2006 after getting elected to the Assembly from Bhaderwah following his taking over as Chief Minister of the State on November 2, 2005. In his place, Choudhary Aslam was elected to the House of Elders.
Prof. Soz had filed his papers against the seat vacated by Bajwa while Azad has filed nomination against the vacancy arising out of Prof Soz' retirement. Dr Abdullah, Muhammad Shafi Uri, Bukhari and Gupta filed papers for two seats vacated by Dr Abdullah and Choudhary Aslam.
National Conference president Dr Farooq Abdullah and his party colleague Muhammad Shafi Uri will face Peoples Democratic Party nominee treasurer, Syed Altaf Ahmad Bukhari and Ashok Vijay Gupta, a Bhartiya Jhanta Party supported Independent candidate as they filed papers against notification 3.
Given the strength of coalition partners and support of some Independent candidates, the victory of Dr Abdullah against BJP supported former advocate general is almost certain while observers believe that there would be a direct contest between Shafi Uri and Altaf Bukhari for the fourth seat, election for which are scheduled to be held on February 13.
The elections for the two seats would be held through 'open ballot system' to avoid cross voting, sources said, adding that two Nominated Women MLAs in the Assembly—Bimla Luthra (NC) and Indu Pawar (Congress) will not have voting right.
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