J-K Assembly elections: The Congress and Farooq Abdullah's National Conference on Monday has officially reached a seat-sharing agreement for the upcoming Jammu & Kashmir Assembly elections. In the September 18 polls for 90 Assembly seats, Congress and National Conference will be fighting 32 and 51 seats respectively.
Congress J&K chief Tariq Hamid Karra in Srinagar said both the parties agreed to have a friendly but disciplined contest on 5 other seats.
“National Conference will contest on 51 seats, Congress on 32 and we have agreed to have a friendly but disciplined contest on 5 seats,” Karra said.
“Over and above these 88 seats, we have left 1 seat for CPI (M) and 1 seat for Panthers Party,” he added.
At a joint press conference, Farooq Abdullah said the INDIA alliance was formed to fight those forces which promote communal divide and want to split the country.
"Today, we completed our negotiations in a cordial atmosphere. Congress and National Conference will contest the elections together,” he added.
The BJP named 16 candidates for the first phase of the Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections, considerably pruning an initial list of 44 following protests by some party cadre who alleged that "parachute candidates" were favoured over dedicated workers.
The original list, which included candidates for 36 segments in the Jammu region and eight in the Kashmir Valley, sparked significant dissatisfaction among party workers.
The BJP is looking on build on its performance as it faces a rejuvenated challenge from the Congress-National Conference alliance, particularly in the Jammu region.
As of now, 14 candidates have filed their nomination papers for the first phase of elections. August 27 is the last date for filing nominations for the first phase.
The process of filing nominations for the second and third phases will begin on August 29 and September 5, respectively.
The counting of votes for the elections will be taken up on October 4.
In the last assembly elections held in Jammu and Kashmir in 2014, when it was a full-fledged state, the BJP had won 25 seats.
(With PTI inputs)
