Srinagar, Nov 9: Political parties in Jammu and Kashmir have started gearing up for polls to four vacant Panchayat seats in the Legislative Council with state Congress legislature party meeting later this week to discuss the upcoming polls.
Sources said the State Congress President Prof Saif-ud-Din Soz has called the Legislature Party meeting on November 11 (Sunday) in Jammu to discuss the polls and formulate a strategy for contesting them.
Soz, who is in New Delhi, is scheduled to return to Jammu by Sunday to preside over the meeting.
Sources said the state party leadership was in touch with the Congress High Command in New Delhi on the matter.
According to Election Commission of India, the polls to the four seats will be held on December 3, the notifications for which were issued today for both Kashmir and Jammu regions.  The results will be declared on December 8.
The Sarpanchs and Panchs will form Electoral College for the elections.
Each of around 35000 Panchayat members would cast two votes in their respective division. Two candidates each in both the divisions securing highest number of votes would be declared as winners.
This is for the first time in the past more than three decades that the four Panchayat Seats reserved for Panchayat members would be filled up in the Upper House.
A senior Congress minister said the party has not taken any decision on the candidature. He said the issue will come up for discussion in the Legislature Party meeting.
“We are running a coalition government with National Conference,” the minister said. “The two partners will evolve a consensus on how to go about the elections.”
The minister said the issue would come up for discussion in the meeting of National Conference-Congress Coordination Committee which is likely to meet next week.
Meanwhile senior National Conference leader, Choudhary Muhammad Ramzaan said the party would discuss the polls only after meeting of the NC-Congress Coordination Committee.
“Let the meeting take place and then only party will deliberate upon the issue,” Ramzaan said.

Lastupdate on : Fri, 9 Nov 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Fri, 9 Nov 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sat, 10 Nov 2012 00:00:00 IST