The state of Jammu and Kashmir will witness a multi-cornered contest in the upcoming Lok Sabha election on the six seats for which the elections will be held in give phases between 11 April to 6 May. The four major political parties — the Bharatiya Janata Party, National Conference, Peoples Democratic Party and the Congress — are in the process of finalising their candidates for the parliamentary polls in the state. Their campaigns will centre around the developmental issues in the state, as well as, their rival's contentions over the special status of the state.

The Congress has submitted a list of candidates which will be finalised by the party high command in next few days, a senior leader has said. The party is looking at fielding former MP Tariq Hameed Karra from Srinagar parliamentary seat. From Anantang, names of state president G A Mir and former minister Peerzada Syed are being considered. From Baramulla, the state unit of the party has suggested the names of former Union Minister Saifuddin Soz, Congress vice-president G N Monga, and former minister Taj Mohidin.

From Jammu and Udhampur, a panel of former ministers G M Saroori, Abdul Majeed Wani, Aijaz Khan and former MP Madan Lal Sharma has been drawn up and for Ladakh names of former minister Rigzin Jora and senior party leader Asgar Karbalai are being considered.

Given the list that has been drawn for the elections, vice-president of state Congress, Monga said, "We were looking at contesting all the six Lok Sabha seats in the state."

However, state president G A Mir said that discussions are likely with the National Conference for a pre-poll alliance as the party has been part of the UPA. "For the last four and a lf years the National Conference had been part of the UPA and whatever programmes we launched against the Modi government it was our partner in that. The NC has been following our whip in both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, so we could hold the discussions with them on polls," he had said last month.

The PDP was among the first parties to announce its candidate for the Baramulla seat with Abdul Qayoom Wani replacing current MP Muzafar Hussain Baigh. The party will shortly announce the names for five other seats.

BJP general secretary Ashok Koul said that the BJP's parliamentary board will decide on its Udhampur MP and Minister of State (MoS) in Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Dr Jitendra Singh and Jammu MP Jugal Kishore Sharma, who is seeking a re-election on their seats.

Even as the People’s Conference (PC), led by Sajad Lone, is seen to be closer to BJP, Koul said that "in Kashmir we would like to consider the alliance with like-minded parties... but there are not any like-minded parties for alliance."

The PC has decided to field Irfan Ansari from Srinagar parliamentary seat and former police officer Raja Aijaz Ali from the Baramulla seat.

The campaigns of the political parties will centre around the lack of development in Kashmir as well the state’s 'political relationship' with New Delhi.

Monga said that the party will canvass on the development that the state witnessed during the tenure of former chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, as well as the need to protect the special status of the state under the Article 370 and 35-A. "It is the Congress which has given the state the Article 370 and 35-A and we will protect it," he said.

Contrary to NC, Congress and PDP which have a common stand on the Article 370 and 35-A, the BJP has sought their abrogation. The Article 35-A empowers the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly to define the permanent residents of the state and bars non residents from acquiring immovable property here. Under Article 370 the prior concurrence of the state was required for the Parliament to form any laws outside the domains of defence, external affairs and communication for the state.

Last year on 21 November, PDP and NC came together to form an alliance, on what they said, to resist the "efforts" of the BJP-led Centre to do away with the special constitutional status of the state.

Koul said that the argument of the political parties that the abrogation of Article 35-A would deprive the residents of the state of their jobs was to mislead people as there were “ many other states” which don’t bar non state residents from employment and acquiring the immovable properties.

"Have the people of those places where there is no special status been deprived of their jobs ?" he asked. "Our campaign in Jammu and Kashmir will centre on nationalism. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on record when he said that ‘let’s talk on Article 370’ and what we get from it and lose from it that needs to be debated,” he added.