The air on possible alliance for government formation in Jammu Kashmir is finally over as both the PDP and BJP will be contesting for two seats each of the four Rajya Sabha vacancies going to polls on February 7. The decision not to field candidates against each other came to be known on Tuesday after BJP, out of four Rajya Sabha seats going to polls on February 7, announced the names of only two candidates – Shamsher Singh Manhas and Chander Mohan Sharma. For the other two vacancies, the PDP has already announced the candidature of two Nazir Ahmad Laway and Fayaz Ahmad Mir, both of whom had narrowly lost the last year’s electoral battle in Kulgam and Kupwara assembly constituencies respectively. The BJP, however, has fielded its party veterans who have either worked with the RSS or the Jansangh and even served jail term during Emergency. Of them, Shamsher Singh has been an old RSS man who worked as its "prachark’’ for six years first at Kullu and then in Kathua district. He came to the BJP after 1971 and worked on various positions as state president and then all India secretary of the party’s youth wing. Later, he worked in the state BJP as its vice president and then general secretary, before becoming its president for three years in 1996. Having served a jail term during Emergency, he is, at present, party’s national executive member. The BJP’s second candidate, Chander Mohan Sharma, is national convenor of the party’s J&K Cell. The latter had joined Jansangh way back in 1974 and later led BJP’s state youth wing as its president. He also worked as BJP’s state general secretary and later vice president for nearly five years. Sharma, who also served a jail term during Emergency, had contested the 1987 Legislative Assembly elections in Jammu West constituency, but lost to Congress veteran Mangat Ram Sharma by a margin of 1,100 votes. Both the PDP and BJP leaders, after the imposition of Governor rule in the state early this month, have made know no secret that talks between them on government formation were in progress. Pointing out that the four Rajya Sabha vacancies will be filled up through open ballot by the newly elected MLAs on February 7, Secretary State Legislative Assembly M. Ramzan who is also Returning Officer for the Rajya Sabha elections said that it will be second time in the state that there will be no secret voting for the purpose. There was open ballot during the last Rajya Sabha elections also wherein both Congress and the NC had bagged two seats each. Three separate elections will be held for filling up four vacancies arising out of the retirement of Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, state Congress president Prof Saifuddin Soz, besides NC’s Mohammad Shafi Uri and Ghulam Nabi Wani (Rattanpur). In the 87-member Legislative Assembly, candidates contesting for the Rajya Sabha seats vacated by Azad and Rattanpuri will require 44 votes each as separate elections will be held for both these vacancies. However, for the remaining two seats, the candidates will need 29 votes each to get elected to the Rajya Sabha, said Ramzan. Though PDP and BJP are silent whether they will vote for each other’s candidates during the polls, sources said that of the first two seats for which separate elections are being held, they will contest one each. For the remaining two vacancies being filled through single election, each party will field one candidate. Under the given situation in the hung Assembly, PDP’s 28 votes and BJP’ 25 polled together will easily bring them the first two seats. For the remaining two, both require support of at least five others as NC (15) and Congress (12), if join hands, can give them a tough fight on one seat. The PDP-BJP tally can go to 56 as the latter expects to get the support of two members of the People’s Conference, besides an independent from Udhampur. Ramzan, however, said that while candidate getting 29 or more votes will get elected on one of these two seats going to polls during the single election, the remaining vacancy will go to the candidate polling highest of the remaining votes. When asked about the second preference votes, he said that none of the party will have second preference votes for the fourth seat.
