The cold desert region of Ladakh is set to witness a multi-corner contest with the entry of heavyweight rebel candidates in the fray on the last date of filing the nomination papers.

Two prominent leaders including Haji Hanifa Jan and social activist Sajjad Kargili filed their nomination papers as Independent candidates in the office of ARO, Kargil on Friday. The voting is scheduled to take place in the fifth round of polling on May 20. 

  The INDIA alliance has officially fielded  Tsering Namgyal to take on the BJP candidate Tashi Gyalson.

A close contest is expected between T Namgyal, a congress councilor & currently the LoP in Leh Autonomous Hill Development Council, and Tashi Gyalson of BJP. The two rebel candidates, Sajjad Kargili and Haji Hanifa Jan with a support base in Shia-dominated Kargil may play a spoilsport. Kargili finished second in 2019.

Behind the curtains, Kargil witnessed a high-voltage political drama before the local leaders belonging to the Shia community decided to field their candidate in the fray.

During preliminary talks cracks surfaced within the INDIA alliance as Kargil-based leaders of the Congress party and the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference unilaterally announced the name of Haji Hanifa Jan to establish their supremacy over Leh-based party leaders. 

Senior alliance leader and former Congress minister Rigzin Zora while taking strong objection to the move called it a breach of the agreement reached among INDIA bloc constituents by the NC.

As per the sharing formula the Congress party was expected to field its candidate. The name of Haji Hanifa Jan, district President of the National Conference, was proposed by the Shia leaders of the party to their alliance partners in Kargil.

 Jora said  Ladakh seat had gone to the Congress as per the agreement and it was wrong on part of the NC to field its district president from the constituency. Supporters of Haji Hanifa Jan refused to bend their knees and went ahead and persuaded him to file his nomination as an Independent candidate.

Initially, the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) also faced some internal bickering after the sitting Member of Parliament Jamyang Tsering Namgayal, was denied a mandate for the second time. He had decided to file his nomination papers as an Independent candidate. The senior BJP leaders camping in Ladakh persuaded him not to contest the Lok Sabha polls as a BJP rebel candidate.

BJP won the Ladakh Lok Sabha seat in 2014 and 2019. In 2014, Thupstan Chhewang won the seat for the BJP while in 2019, Jamyang Tsering Namgayal emerged the winner. The BJP this time replaced Namgayal with Tashi Gyalson.