The INDIA bloc found itself in disarray in the Ladakh Lok Sabha seat on Friday. The Congress high command approved the name of Tsering Namgyal, a Buddhist from Leh, as the party candidate, but, on the other hand, the National Conference (NC) and the Congress units of Kargil supported Haji Hanifa Jan, a Shia Muslim, as an Independent candidate.
Also read: Congress, NC propose Haji Hanifa Jan as joint candidate from Ladakh Lok Sabha seat
The Congress and the NC, as a part of the pre-poll seat sharing agreement, had decided to field a candidate from the Congress party. However, senior Congress leader Haji Asgar Ali Karbalia, who was camping in Delhi this week, was demanding to field a candidate from Muslim-majority Kargil and not Buddhist-majority Leh.
Mr. Karbalia and senior NC leader Qamar Ali Akhone on Friday accompanied Mr. Jan, NC district president, to the office of the Assistant Returning Officer, Kargil, to file the nomination papers as an Independent candidate. “ Mr. Jan is a consensus candidate from Kargil,” a Congress leader said, on the condition of anonymity.
On Thursday, Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal, in a letter, said, “The party’s Central Election Committee has approved the name of Mr. Namgyal as the candidate”. Mr. Namgyal, a Buddhist who is currently the leader of Opposition in the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council-Leh (LAHDC-L), has filed the nomination papers as the INDIA bloc candidate from Ladakh.
The failure of the Congress and the NC to zero in on a joint candidate in Ladakh has also split the influential socio-political grouping, Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA), which along with Leh Apex Body (LAB) was fighting for Ladakh’s Statehood and inclusion in the Sixth Schedule. The grouping also has two influential seminaries, the Imam Khomeini Memorial Trust (IKMT) and the Islamia School Kargil (ISK), in it.
Sajjad Kargili, a key member of the KDA, has also filed his nomination papers as an Independent candidate. “The leadership of the KDA failed to organise meetings ahead of elections and arrive at a consensus candidate. It’s unfortunate that this gulf has come to the fore. Even when Mr. Jan’s name was proposed, the KDA was not consulted on it. I am hopeful to win the elections,” Mr. Kargili said.
Mr. Kargili bagged 31,984 votes in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections against the BJP candidate Jamyang Tsering Namgyal’s 42,914 votes and stood second.
Meanwhile, the BJP put up a joint face on Friday and indicated that it has resolved the issue with Namgyal, who revolted against the party for nominating Tashi Gyalson as its candidate and dropping the sitting MP.
“Under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modiji, I am confident that Tashi Gyalsonji, the BJP Candidate for Ladakh Parliamentary Constituency, will carry forward the journey towards a Viksit Bharat Viksit Ladakh,” Mr. Namgyal, who held a joint rally with Gyalson in Leh, said.
Meanwhile, climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, whose peaceful protest campaign for the past 57 days in Ladakh over Statehood and Sixth Schedule, has changed the mood on the ground, with people questioning the Centre’s move to grant status of Union Territory to Ladakh in 2019.
“In Ladakh, this time safeguarding nature, culture, land, air, water, glaciers will be issues of election, not mandir, masjid, petrol and onion prices. Let’s rise above freebies and momentary benefits. Election results come fast but impacts of our choices come in decades,” Mr. Wangchuk said.
Ladakh has a total number of 1, 82, 571 voters, including 91,703 male and 90,867 female voters. It is going to polls on May 20.
