INDIA’s Congress, National Conference seal seat pact, Mehbooba Mufti left out

PTI

Arjun Sharma

Jammu, April 8

A day after the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) announced the candidature of its chief Mehbooba Mufti from Anantnag, the Congress and National Conference (NC) on Monday finalised a seat-sharing agreement for all six seats in J&K and Ladakh. Both parties will contest three seats each. While the NC will field candidates in the Anantnag, Baramulla and Srinagar constituencies, the Congress will contest the Udhampur, Jammu and Ladakh seats.

To contest 3 seats each in J&K, Ladakh

• NC to field candidates in Anantnag, Baramulla and Srinagar
• Cong to contest Udhampur, Jammu and Ladakh seats

PDP still part of alliance: Khurshid

Congress leader Salman Khurshid said PDP was still part of INDIA. “Since J&K is small in area, there wasn’t much scope for seat adjustment,” he said.

The announcement was made by NC vice-president Omar Abdullah and Congress leaders Salman Khurshid and Pawan Khera at a joint press conference in New Delhi. With this, the PDP, which too was a member of the alliance, has been left out and is set to divide the vote bank in the upcoming elections. Refuting reports of a split in the INDIA bloc in J&K, Khurshid said the PDP was a part of the alliance, although a seat-sharing agreement could not be worked out with it. Omar said, “The National Conference will support Congress candidates in Udhampur, Jammu and Ladakh. The INDIA bloc will contest the polls to help fulfil the aspirations of people of this region and truly represent them in Parliament.” Currently, Jammu, Udhampur and Ladakh seats are held by the BJP and all three seats in Kashmir are with the NC. It will be an uphill task for the Congress to win its share of seats.

Omar said the focus right now was on the Lok Sabha elections. He said the conduct of the Assembly poll had been decided by the CEC and Union Home Minister, who had announced that the poll process would be completed before the SC-mandated date of September 30. (With inputs)

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