The Congress and the National Conference (NC) on Monday announced its seat-sharing deal for Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh region for the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections, with each party contesting on three seats each.
As per the agreement, Congress will field its candidates in Udhampur, Jammu and Ladakh Lok Sabha seats, while the National Conference will fight elections in Anantnag, Baramulla and Srinagar sears.
The announcement was made by Congress leader Salman Khurshid and NC leader Omar Abdullah at a press conference here.
Adullah said, “I want to formally announce that the National Conference and Congress will jointly contest the elections in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh with three candidates for each of the two parties.”
He said that the NC will support Congress candidates in Udhampur, Jammu and Ladakh seats.
“The INDIA bloc with contest the polls to help fulfil the aspirations of people of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh and truly represent them in Parliament,” the former Chief Minister of the erstwhile state said.
He also said that Chaudhary Lal Singh will contest from Udhampur, Raman Bhalla to contest from Jammu & Mian Altaf Sahib to contest from Anantnag LS seats
“The candidates for the remaining seats will be announced soon,” Abdullah said. The seat sharing deal was announced days after the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti announced to contest Lok Sabha polls from all seats in Kashmir. PDP fielded its candidates after it decided to contest all seats alone. Interestingly, Mehbooba Mufti will be contesting the Lok Sabha elections from Anantnag-Rajouri, making it a high-voltage battle as Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) chief and former Congress veteran Ghulam Nabi Azad and NC leader Mian Altaf Ahmad are also contesting from this seat. When asked if PDP was still a part of the INDIA bloc, Khurshid said, “PDP is in our alliance. Seat adjustment is one part of the alliance and an overall alliance is a different issue.” The Congress leader said that since Jammu and Kashmir is small in area, there is not much scope for seat adjustment despite our best efforts. The PDP has named candidates for three seats in Kashmir, fielding Mehbooba Mufti against DPAP president Ghulam Nabi Azad in Anantnag. The Lok Sabha polls in the Union Territory will be held in the first five phases on April 19 (Udhampur), April 26 (Jammu), May 7 (Anantnag-Rajouri), May 13 (Srinagar) and May 20 (Baramulla). Could ting of votes will take place on June 4.