With just four candidates in the fray, electoral battle forLadakh parliamentary constituency of Jammu and Kashmir has become asinteresting as it is tough for the contestants, poll watchers say.
Scheduled to go for pollingon May 6, the seat is witnessing a tough battle between Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP), Congress and People’s Democratic Party (PDP)-National Conference (NC)backed independent candidate.
The constituency, spreadover Leh and Kargil districts, sharing borders with Pakistan and China, is geographicallyone of the largest and population-wise one of the smallest in the country.
The Ladakh region of thestate has its own issues, dissimilar to those in Kashmir valley or the Jammudivision. Politically, Ladakh has always been closer to New Delhi than toSrinagar or Jammu, the two administrative capitals of J&K.
Ladakh has 174,618 voters,86752 are males, 85064 females, 2799 are service voters and 3 transgender.
The candidates in fray areRigzin Spalbar of Congress, Jamyang Tsering Namgyal of BJP, Sajjad Hussain isbacked by PDP and NC, and influential Congress rebel Asgar Ali Karbalai, whoremained CEC of LAHDC, Kargil and former MLA, both independents.
Historically the contest ofLadakh seat based on support by religious schools of Muslim and Buddhist faithsof Kargil and Leh and irrespective of political affiliations but after formerLadakh Union Territory Front (LUTF) activist and former minister Rigzin Jorajoined Congress and LUFT founder and two time member parliament ThupstanChhewang merged with BJP in 2010, the fight become politically moresignificant.
Chhewang won seat in 2004 asIndependent candidate and representative of LUTF and in second term he won theseat in 2014 as BJP candidate but later resigned from the membership of thesaffron party in November last year, saying that all promises made by the BJPsounded like “empty rhetoric”.
The contest is now largelyamong the BJP, the Congress and independent Sajjad Hussain.
During the lastparliamentary elections in 2014, the Congress had fielded senior Buddhistleader Tsering Samphel from Ladakh but it stood third in the contest while BJPwin by a thin margin of just 36 votes from Shia-dominated Kargil district hadsupported Congress rebel Ghulam Raza who remained the runner-up in the polls.
However, the divisionalstatus granted to Ladakh during presidential rule has reshaped and influencedthe politics and polarised Leh and Kargil.
However, what’s thrown aspanner into the NC-PDP plan is the presence of Karbalai, former Congress MLAfrom Kargil, as independent. Karbalai deserted the Congress after he was denieda ticket.