Blitz Bureau
SRINAGAR: The National Conference (NC) and the Congress on August 27 sealed a seat-sharing agreement for the upcoming assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir. The NC agreed to contest 51 out of 90 seats and the Congress on 32 seats. The two parties will have a friendly contest on five other seats, and one seat each will be fought by allies Communist Party of India (M) and Panthers Party.
The seat-sharing announcement came days after NC patriarch Farooq Abdullah, NC vice-president Omar Abdullah and the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge finalised the alliance. “Statehood is very important for all of us. This has been promised to us.
This state has witnessed bad days, and we hope it will be restored with its full powers. For that, we stand together with the INDIA bloc,” Farooq said, adding that former MLA and CPI(M) leader Mohammed Yousuf Tarigami also extended support to them.
“We had a good meeting in a cordial atmosphere. The alliance is on track, and it will run smoothly. The alliance is final, and it will be for all 90 seats. Our common program is to fight together and defeat the divisive forces in the country,” Farooq said, and added that the two parties will soon formalise a seat-sharing pact. The first assembly elections in Jammu & Kashmir in a decade will be held in three phases on September 18 and 25, and October 1.
They will be the first assembly polls in the restive region since its special status and statehood were scrapped five years ago and are likely to be the last step before the Union territory’s statehood is restored.
Congress general secretary and former president of J&K unit Ghulam Ahmad Mir said the two parties took different factors into consideration before sealing the alliance: “We resolved almost all hurdles and both the parties even agreed to some sacrifices for the sake of a fruitful coalition.”
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a senior Congress leader said: “The NC will likely get around 50 seats and the Congress between 35-38 seats. Some allies will also be accommodated.” The NC and Congress formed a post-poll alliance in 2008, with Omar Abdullah leading the coalition government as the chief minister. The two parties did not tie-up for the 2014 polls and contested all seats separately.
The PDP emerged as the single-largest party with 28 seats and formed an alliance of ideological extremes with the BJP, which had 25 seats. But the coalition collapsed early in 2018 after the BJP withdrew support and Governor’s Rule was imposed in June. The NC won 15 seats in the 2014 elections, and the Congress 12.
