Jammu, Mar 24: Biennial poll to the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Council will be held here on April 13 to elect six members to the House, three each from Kashmir and Jammu regions.
In a notification, issued by the Secretary Legislative Assembly Muhammad Ramzan, who is the returning officer for the biennial poll to the state Legislative Council, it has been specifically mentioned that for one of the three seats from Jammu region, the candidate shall necessarily belong to the border district of Poonch.
As per the notification, the nominations begin on March 24 and will be taken up for scrutiny on March 31, while April 2 will be the last date for withdrawals. Experts believe that issuance of the notification has now made things clear for both the coalition alliance as well as the opposition parties.
“The ruling alliance is safe on at least two seats of Jammu, one reserved seat of Poonch and two among the three seats in Kashmir valley”, said an expert, preferring not to be named.
He observed that the major opposition, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has a fair chance of winning at least one seat from Kashmir valley, while the opposition can also give a tough fight to the ruling alliance for one of the Jammu seats in case some kind of alliance emerges between the opposition parties.
As per the set procedure, three separate ballot boxes (for Kashmir, Jammu, Poonch seats) will be put in place and each member will have one vote to cast in each box.
The NC-Congress coalition alliance has presently 45 members excluding the support of independent MLAs including MY Tarigami of CPI (M), Hakim Muhammad Yaseen of Peoples Democratic Front, GH Mir of Democratic Nationalist Party and Engineer Rashid. The House has a total strength of 84, which also include two nominated members.
If one goes with the set formula being adopted for the election, minimum 23 votes are required for a winning candidate. “Out of three seats from Kashmir, coalition will have a smooth sailing on two seats with its total strength while the PDP can claim one seat in case it manages support of at least two more members from the opposition camp”.
However, according to sources, coalition is working on some PDP legislators to secure their votes and some emissaries have already got in touch with atleast three PDP MLAs.
The coalition has also kept all the options open as of now and it is yet to decide on the seat sharing arrangement.
Out of the six MLCs retiring next month, five belong to NC. However, if sources are to be believed the Congress is staking an equal claim this time. “We are yet to decide on the matter but it is sure that we will be getting at least one seat from Jammu and two from Kashmir”, a senior Congress leader said.

Lastupdate on : Thu, 24 Mar 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Thu, 24 Mar 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Fri, 25 Mar 2011 00:00:00 IST