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3-cornered contest in Ladakh, ex-NC leader fights as Ind against BJP, Congress

Arjun Sharma Jammu, May 12 With just a few days remaining for the Lok Sabha election in Ladakh, the National Conference (NC) in under attack for creating a 2009 like situation when a party leader contested as an independent and...
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Arjun Sharma

Jammu, May 12

With just a few days remaining for the Lok Sabha election in Ladakh, the National Conference (NC) in under attack for creating a 2009 like situation when a party leader contested as an independent and won after defeating the alliance (NC-Congress) candidate.

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A similar situation has emerged this time in Ladakh where Haji Hanifa Jan, who is the lone candidate from the Muslim community, is contesting the LS poll. He was the Kargil district president of National Conference before he resigned recently along with the entire unit of Kargil NC after party president Farooq Abdullah asked them to support the INDIA bloc alliance candidate.

The seat, the largest in the country in terms of area (173.266 square kilometers), goes to polls on May 20 — the first major electoral battle in the region after it was carved out of Jammu and Kashmir and granted Union Territory status in 2019. While the BJP has fielded Tashi Gyalson, chief executive councilor-cum-chairman of the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (Leh), from the seat after dropping sitting MP Jamyang Tsering Namgyal, the Congress has nominated Tsering Namgyal as its candidate.

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BJP national general secretary and in-charge J&K and Ladakh, Tarun Chugh attacked the NC by stating that the party has again deceived Congress and INDIA alliance. He said that the NC’s Kargil unit extended support to Independent candidate from Kargil instead of joint candidate of INDIA block from Leh.

Many leaders from Congress party from Leh, who did not want to be named, informed that they believe that it is a “drama” where all leaders of NC resigned and will be absorbed back into the party after the elections. The contest in Ladakh has become interesting as there are only three candidates including BJP’s Tashi Gyalson, Congress’s Tsering Namgyal and independent Hanifa Jan. Both Gyalson and Namgyal are Buddhists while Hanifa Jan is a Shia Muslim. While the vote bank in Muslim majority Kargil is likely to consolidate, the Buddhist vote bank could split in favour of two candidates from the community.

Even in 2009 there was an alliance between NC and Congress but former’s leader from Kargil, Ghulam Hassan Khan, rebelled against the party and contested the Lok Sabha polls as an independent. After winning the election, he however extended his support to UPA. Two major religious organisations—the Islamia School and Khomeini Trust—had supported Khan like they are supporting Hanifa Jan this time.

There are a total of over 1.84 lakh voters in Ladakh out of which 88,877 are from Leh and 95,926 from Kargil. Interestingly, earlier NC had not allowed Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti to contest the LS polls from Anantnag constituency under INDIA alliance. Mufti is now contesting from the seat from her own party breaking the alliance on the seat. Senior Congress leaders have conveyed the political complications that could emerge in Ladakh to the party high command. The election in Ladakh will be held on May 20.

Tilting the balance

  • Haji Hanifa Jan is lone Muslim candidate contesting the Lok Sabha election from Ladakh
  • He was NC’s Kargil dist president before he resigned recently along with local party unit
  • While the vote bank in Muslim-majority Kargil is likely to consolidate in Khan’s favour, the Buddhist vote bank in Leh could split between BJP and Cong candidates
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