J&K polls: Congress candidate sentenced to 5 months in jail

Jammu, Aug 30 (IANS/WISHAVWARTA):- Former president of J&K Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) and party’s candidate, Vikar Rasool Wani has been convicted by a court along with five others to five months imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1,000. In a big embarrassment for the Congress party, Wani is the party candidate for the Banihal Assembly constituency that goes to poll in the first phase of J&K Assembly elections on September 18. After failing to reach an agreement on seat-sharing in this constituency, the National Conference (NC) and Congress fielded their candidates from this constituency in a ‘friendly contest’. Since the last day of filing nomination papers and the scrutiny for the Banihal constituency has already ended, in the eventuality of Wani getting disqualified, the NC candidate, Sajjad Shaheen would be pitched against the BJP in a direct contest. It must be recalled that during the 2012 Assembly elections, a public meeting was organised without permission at the Junior High School in Mithepur village of Banihal. The gathering was addressed by the former MLA, Wani. A case was registered against the accused by then Block Development Officer, Siyaram Varshney for violating the Model Code of Conduct. The case was being heard in the Special MP MLA Court. The court found the charges of violating the Model Code of Conduct to be valid and sentenced Vikar Rasool Wani, Bharat Bhushan Sharma, Sachin, Ikramuddin and Nazim to five months in prison and imposed a fine of Rs 1,000 each. The NC and Congress have entered into a seat-sharing arrangement for the J&K Assembly elections. According to the arrangement, out of 90 seats, the NC is fighting 52 and Congress 3. In five Assembly seats of Sopore, Nagrota, Doda, Bhaderwah and Banihal both parties will field candidates for a ‘friendly contest’. Two seats have been left by both the NC and the Congress, one for CPI(M) and the other for the Panthers Party. Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is the main contestant against the NC in the Valley. The common challenge for both the NC and the PDP comes from Engineer Rashid’s Awami Itihad Party (AIP) and the ex-members of the Jamaat-e-Islami organisation. Those ex-members of the Jamaat are fighting the election as independent candidates. Four of these ex-Jamaatis have already filed nomination papers for the first phase of elections in J&K. —