Srinagar: At least ten corporators of the Congress party who defied the party whip today appeared before the State Election Commissioner of Jammu and Kashmir.
Congress Party has filed a petition seeking disqualification of these Congress Corporators who went against the party whip and voted for the incumbent Srinagar Mayor Junaid Azim Mattu.
On the directions of Jammu Kashmir Congress President G.A Mir and senior Congress leader Tariq Hameed Karra, the whip was issued through Chief Whip Basharat-Bin- Qadir to vote in favour of Sheikh Muhammed Imran in recently concluded Mayoral elections.
Ten Corporators from the Congress party defied the whip and instead of voting for Sheikh Muhammad Imran voted fo Mattu.
Unnamed sources told a local news agency, Kashmir News Trust (KNT) that Congress Chief Whip Basharat-Bin- Qadir who is also a Corporator filed a petition before State Election Commissioner K.K. Sharma seeking the disqualification of these ten ‘turncoats’.
These 10 rebel Corporators were Shafat Ghaffar, Ziyarat Batamaloo (Ward 21), Farooq Dar – Chanapora (Ward 11), Sara Bilal – Lokut Dal (Ward 64), Zahoor Hussain Rather – Hamdania Colony (Ward 17), Haseena Bano- Chattarhama (Ward 73), Shameema Khan – Bemina East (Ward 26), Gulshan Bilal – Syed Ali Akbar (Ward 34), Showkat Kak – Makhdoom Sahib (Ward 41), Syeda – Shaheed Gunj (Ward 22) and Ghulam Rasool Hajam – Zainakote (Ward 30).
The Counselor for the applicant, Advocate Shujah-ul-Haq told KNT that all the ten corporators appeared before the Election Commissioner. These Corporators sought time to file their objections. “The time to file objections was granted and the case was listed for the next hearing on 11 February next month,” he said adding that the applicant has vehemently pleaded that all these ten corporators violated election rules and ought to be disqualified.
The Mayor candidate Sheikh Muhammad Imran against whom these corporators voted in a tweet said that the good thing is that even the Congress Party can’t forgive these corporators this time because the law says so and he would simply say Congress corporators will be disqualified from the Council for defying party whip for money.
The incumbent Mayor, Mattu had secured 44 out of 70 votes in the recently concluded Mayoral election at Srinagar Municipal Corporation. (KNT)
