Blitz Bureau
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, CPP Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, former party chief Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra are among the 40 ‘star campaigners’ whose names were announced on August 31 for the first phase of Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir scheduled on September 18.
The list, issued by Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal, also includes his own name besides some prominent party leaders like Jairam Ramesh, Ambika Soni, Ajay Maken, Salman Khurshid, and Kanhaiya Kumar.
The names of Himachal Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, former Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Chhanni, ex-Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot also feature in the list.
Election to the 90-member Jammu and Kashmir Assembly will be held in three phases — on September 18, September 25, and October 1. The ballots will be counted on October 8.
This will be the first Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir since 2014, and also the first after the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019.
The Congress has stitched an electoral alliance with the National Conference.
