Jammu, May 5: With Jammu and Kashmir Government gearing up to hold election to four seats of MLCs reserved for Panchayats, pressure is building up on the ruling coalition alliance – Congress and National Conference – to give representation to the ‘bad pockets’ of the state in the Upper House.
 Sources revealed that coalition alliance is understood to have decided on seat sharing pact and two seats each would go to Congress and National Conference.
 A senior Congress leader told Greater Kashmir, though strong lobbying for getting the party mandate was already going on, pressure was also being built up on the party high command to ensure that the party candidates belong to the bad pockets of the two regions.
 “Several deputations have met the party leadership in the state as well as in New Delhi demanding that candidates from rural and unrepresented areas be given the party mandate”, he said adding, “The four seats are reserved for Panchayats and the party was being persuaded to ensure that the candidates belong to far flung areas so that the purpose of having reservations for the local bodies is fulfilled”.
 Sources said that Congress deputations from rural areas have also met the senior party leaders in New Delhi in the recent past to project their demands. “We fear that this time again the candidate will be chosen from the urban centers of the state,” a Congress leader, who recently led a delegation to New Delhi said.
 Similar pressure was also building up on the National Conference leadership. Party insiders said that a strong group from south Kashmir was also projecting their cause demanding representation to the area.
 The government was contemplating to hold the elections for the four reserved seats, after around 38 years, in next few months. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had also recently said that the process would start immediately after Durbar Move to Srinagar.
 The Election Commission of India (ECI) has also recently approved the election format submitted by the State Election Department. Reports indicate that under the approved proposal two seats would be filled from Kashmir and two others from Jammu region. The members of the rural local bodies from Ladakh region would vote for the two seats in Kashmir.
 Around 286 polling stations are expected to be set up for the election in 143 blocks of the State.

Lastupdate on : Sat, 5 May 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 5 May 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 6 May 2012 00:00:00 IST