The presence of senior Congress leaders from Kargil at the filing of nomination papers by the district president of National Conference, Haji Hanifa Jan as an independent candidate, has turned the grand-old party into a laughing stock in the arid region of Ladakh.
The Congress high command has cleared the name of Tsering Namgyal, leader of the opposition in Leh Council, as the party’s official candidate for Ladakh seat and he filed his nomination papers before the Returning Officer (RO) Ladakh in Leh town on Thursday.
The turn of events has left Congress in disarray, undermining its efforts to consolidate its position in Ladakh–a seat it has clinched six times out of 13 Lok Sabha elections in the region since 1967.
The BJP won this seat during the last two successive Lok Sabha elections. In the 2014 Lok Sabha election, veteran politician Thupstan Chhewang won this seat as BJP candidate by a margin of only 36 votes. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP candidate Jamyang Tsering Namgyal, who was then sitting Chairman-cum-CEC of LAHDC Leh recorded an impressive victory margin of 10,930 votes over NC, PDP, and Islamiya School Kargil joint candidate, Sajjad Kargili. Namgayal polled 42,914 votes as against Sajjad Karigili’s 31984.
Haji Hanifa Jan’s independent candidacy, supported by Congress and NC leaders of the district, only exacerbates the Congress’s internal divisions, hindering its chances of success in Ladakh.
Jan, who filed papers as an independent candidate at the office of Assistant Returning Officer in Kargil, was accompanied by senior congress leader Haji Asgar Ali Karbaliae, Kargil district president of Congress Nasir Munshi, senior NC leader Qamar Ali Akhoon and former chief executive councilor (CEC) Kargil Council, Feroz Ahmed Khan.
“It is beyond imagination as how the Congress high command tolerates such kind of gross indiscipline within the party. Tsering Namgyal has been nominated as the party’s official candidate but Kargil Congress leaders, instead of supporting the party’s candidate, have openly come in support of NC candidate purely on religious lines. Though the Congress party believes in inclusive agenda, yet the INDIA bloc alliance has crumbled completely in the region as the NC leadership has backstabbed the Congress publicly,” a senior Congress leader of the region told Gaon Tribune declining to be named.
Referring to the National Conference president Farooq Abdullah and vice president Omar Abdullah’s congratulatory message to Haji Hanifa Jan on his nomination as the joint candidate of NC and Congress without any endorsement from Congress high command, the leader said, “it is an open act of deception and political opportunism on the part of the NC leadership. The people will teach them a lesson in the upcoming elections”.
Under the visionary leadership of Hon’ble PM Sh. @narendramodi Ji, I am confident that Sh. Tashi Gyalson Ji, the BJP Candidate for Ladakh Parliamentary Constituency, will carry forward the journey towards a #ViksitBharatViksitLadakh#AbkiBaar400Paar#PhirEkBaarModiSarkar pic.twitter.com/DI1151JTMS
— Jamyang Tsering Namgyal (Modi Ka Parivar) (@jtnladakh) May 3, 2024
Meanwhile, the defiant BJP Lok Sabha member Jamyang Tsering Namgyal, who was miffed over the denial of party mandate for the seat and threatened to file nomination papers as an independent candidate, fell in line and visited party office in Leh while joining the campaign in favour of the party nominee Tashi Gyalson.
In a post on ‘X’, the BJP Member of Parliament also wrote, “Under the visionary leadership of Hon’ble PM Sh. @narendramodi Ji, I am confident that Sh. Tashi Gyalson Ji, the BJP Candidate for Ladakh Parliamentary Constituency, will carry forward the journey towards a Viksit Bharat Viksit Ladakh”.
“I want to make it clear that I have not left the party. There was a small disagreement over certain issues that were aimed to run the party smoothly. I will strive hard to make Tashi Gyalson victorious with a huge majority in the election,” Namgyal said.
Senior leader of Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) Sajjad Kargili also filed his nomination papers in the office of ARO Kargil as an independent candidate.
His candidacy as an independent candidate challenged the joint candidate of Kargil Congress and NC will serve as a major jolt to the NC’s efforts to consolidate Shia Muslim votes in Kargil district “to ensure the defeat” of BJP candidate, Tashi Gyalson, a Buddhist from Leh district.
Congress Leader & Acting Executive Councilor LAHDC Kargil Kacho Mohd Feroz Filed Nomination Papers for Ladakh Parliamentary Seat as Independent Candidate at ARO Office Kargil
