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| Worried Azad to face litmus test today | | Er Rashid, Hakim Yasin hold the key | | Kunal Shrivatsa
Early Times Report
JAMMU, Feb 6: Locked in one of the toughest poll battles of his political life, the election for the four Rajya Sabha seats to be held tomorrow is nothing less than an acid test for the Congress stalwart and former Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, who is also one of the contenders among the seven contestants.
Veteran Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, whose nearly forty year long political career started to nosedive after he received a shock defeat in the Lok Sabha polls from Doda-Udhampur constituency in May last year at the hands of Dr Jitendra Singh of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
However, being a Rajya Sabha member Azad managed to salvage some pride as the Congress High Command bestowed him with the key post of Leader of Opposition in the Upper House of the Parliament keeping in view his seniority and vast experience as a parliamentarian.
But, after only eight months had passed and Azad again had to face one more litmus test in his long political innings as his present Rajya Sabha membership expires on February 10 due to which he had no other option but to seek a re-election from his home state since it was the first state to go for Rajya Sabha polls.
Azad could have made entry to the Upper House of the Parliament from some other state where Congress have enough numbers to ensure his victory but getting to the Rajya Sabha after February 10 means that he had to lose his Leader of Opposition status which only could remain intact when he fight elections for one of the Rajya Sabha seats out of J&K quota.
Though the National Conference (NC) has lent support to Azad's candidature, the combined strength of Congress and NC in the 87-member state assembly that forms the Electoral College for the polls stands at 27 as the two parties have 12 and 15 Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) which is three members less than the magical figure of 30 to make sure that Azad emerges victorious in the electoral battle.
The Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP) has 28 seats, the BJP 25 while seven of the MLAs are either independents or representatives of some political parties.
The Election Commission has issued three notifications for the polls - the first two for one seat each and the third for two seats. The voting for all the four seats will be held tomorrow from 9 am onwards.
The victory of two PDP candidates and one BJP candidate is certain as the two parties are supporting each other, however, going by the electoral arithmetic for the polls, result for Azad's seat would remain the centre of attraction as a keen contest between him and Chander Mohan Sharma of BJP is on the cards.
Despite MLA Kulgam Mohammad Yusuf Tarigami announcing his support to Azad, his fate still hangs in balance as MLA Engineer Rashid and Hakim Mohammad Yaseen out of the total seven legislators have not made any announcement about either supporting Azad or BJP-PDP or even abstaining from voting.
While Azad, contesting for the fourth seat, would get 28 votes if Tarigami votes for, on the other hand, his counterpart Chander Mohan of BJP would bag 28 votes- 25 of the BJP, two of the People's Conference votes and one vote of independent MLA from Udhampur.
In such a scenario, Azad's victory or defeat, therefore, lies in the hands of Engineer Rashid and Hakim Mohammad Yaseen.
If Rashid and Yaseen vote for Azad then the Congress leader's victory would be certain as Azad's tally would be 30 votes. But, if Engineer Rashid chooses to vote against Azad, and Hakim Yaseen abstains BJP candidate would get 29 votes, which would pave the way for Azad's defeat.
In the event of tie the victorious candidate would be determined by a draw of lots as per the election rules.
The result of the seat on which Azad is contesting the Rajya Sabha poll would in fact make or break senior Congress leader's long political career which began fluctuating ever since the outcome of Lok Sabha elections. |
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