Fifteen candidates from PDP, NC and BJP filed their nomination papers for the elections to 11 seats of the upper house. It will be first time that the BJP will have members in the legislative council as it didn't have enough MLAs in the state assembly earlier, who take part in the elections of the Member of Legislative Council (MLC).
Darakhshan Andrabi from the BJP and Ajay Singh Chandail as an independent also filed their papers.
The Congress, which has 12 seats, has not put up any candidate. It is supporting the NC in reciprocation of the latter's support to it during the Rajya Sabha polls, which led to the victory of senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad.
The PDP and the BJP have fielded six and five candidates respectively for council polls. The NC has fielded two candidates. The BJP and the PDP are contesting elections in an alliance. The two parties with 53 MLAs and with the support of two MLAs of Sajjad Lone's Peoples Conference, the alliance is sure to win nine seats.
Earlier, the PDP and the BJP had contested four seats together for the Rajya Sabha and won three of them. NC working president and former chief minister Omar Abdullah taking a jibe at BJP-PDP said the two parties are befooling people on the 'hurdles' in government formation as they have for the second time reached seat-sharing arrangement effortlessly.
The BJP has fielded three candidates from the Jammu region and one each from the Kashmir and Ladakh region for the upcoming council polls. The PDP has nominated two from the Jammu region, one from Ladakh (Kargil) and three from Kashmir regions.
{{/usCountry}}The BJP has fielded three candidates from the Jammu region and one each from the Kashmir and Ladakh region for the upcoming council polls. The PDP has nominated two from the Jammu region, one from Ladakh (Kargil) and three from Kashmir regions.
{{/usCountry}}The NC has fielded one each from the Jammu and the Kashmir region.
The PDP and the BJP have fielded only one Hindu (Surinder Chowdhary) and Muslim (Sufi Yousaf), respectively. The BJP has one Muslim MLA, while the PDP doesn't have a single elected Hindu. The NC has 16, Cong 13, PDP four and Panthers Party has only one MLC at present in the Legislative Council.