Alliance partners caught in seat sharing wrangle, opponents see it as an opportunity

Afaq Bhat
Srinagar, Nov 24: Differences over seat sharing arrangement for the forthcoming District Development Council (DDC) elections within the Peoples’ Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) seems to be ray of hope for the opponents of the alliance.
According to media reports small constituents of the PAGD have been complaining that they are being deprived of their seat share and the PAGD leadership is taking the decisions “unilaterally.”
It’s in place to mention here that PAGD is an amalgam of Kashmir based parties headed by the National Conference president Dr Farooq Abdullah. It comprises of Peoples Democratic Party, Peoples Conference, Awami National Conference, CPI, CPI (M) and other smaller parties.
A politician while talking to Precious Kashmir said, “There have been some instances about where the candidates who were denied mandate by the PAGD are contesting as independents. You can expect such scenes as the elections are going to be held for 250 DDC seats across Jammu and Kashmir.”
He said, “Such small incidents don’t mean that any cracks have developed within the PAGD. The political parties that were not expecting the alliance to jump into the poll fray are trying to play up these issues to create a notion that PAGD is a divided house but the fact is that the alliance is intact and the opponents are feeling the heat.”
An analyst said, “PAGD’s decision to contest the forthcoming DDC polls surprised many people including their opponents. They have realized that winning these elections won’t be a cake walk and they are out to face a stiff competition. But the differences which have cropped up within the PAGD have made them hopeful about these parties having an outside chance as the division of votes can prove beneficial for them.”
He said, “During the past few days some issues have come to fore and it appears that the disgruntled party workers of the big political formations in both Jammu and Kashmir regions have decided to contest as independents. These contestants are not taking part in the elections as the NC, PDP or PC representatives. In a democracy everyone has his own rights and if any party worker decides to contest the elections on his own, no one can stop him.”
An observer said, “The PAGD is confident that it would win maximum number of seats in Kashmir but the same cannot be said about the Jammu region. There it faces an uphill task. The forthcoming DDC polls are more about Jammu versus Kashmir, but the Valley based parties coming together have made these elections interesting.”