NC, Congress Crack J&K Seat-Sharing Deal

JKNC: 51 seats
INC: 32 seats
Friendly Contest: 5 seats
CPI(M): 1 seat
Panthers Party: 1 seat

Srinagar- Following days of ‘standoff’ over seat sharing, National Conference and Congress have reached a deal to share Jammu and Kashmir’s 90 Assembly seats ahead of the upcoming elections.

Speaking at a joint news conference at NC President Farooq Abdullah’s residence, the alliance leaders announced that the two parties agreed to run together in the elections following deliberations over some contentious constituencies.

The National Conference (NC) and the Congress Monday agreed to contest 51 and 32 seats respectively for the assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir.

One seat each has been allotted to the CPI(M) and the Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP), the allies announced at a joint press conference at NC president Farooq Abdullah’s residence here after day-long negotiations.

According to their seat-sharing formula, the NC will contest 51 seats in J-K and the Congress 32.

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They also said there will be a “friendly contest” on five seats of the Union Territory.

“To fight against the forces hell-bent upon dividing people of India, including J&K, along communal lines was the only goal of forming the INIDIA Bloc. To fend off these forces, the NC and Congress launched a campaign in J&K. Now that the negotiations between the two parties are over, we have decided to fight elections together in J&K,” Dr. Farooq said.

“We have chosen to contest friendlier elections after narrowing down on a few controversial seats where we previously had difficulties. The two parties had amicable negotiations while taking into account each other’s sensitivities,” Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) president and former minister, Tariq Hammed Karra said, adding, “we finally came to an agreement after a fresh evaluation in a much disciplined manner.”

“We have narrowed down the friendly contest to five seats and the alliance will fight on 24 seats in first phase, followed by 26 seats in second phase and 40 seats in the third and final phase of elections. In every phase we have stated numbers for NC and mandates will be announced accordingly from today onwards,” he elaborated.

Speaking to the media, the senior Congress leader K.C Venugopal claimed that there would be an NC-Congress government in J&K soon and the two parties will strive for the democratic rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, who he alleged, were betrayed by the ruling dispensation.

“They (BJP) cheated on people of J&K, they always tried the nation to be divided on communal lines, while our party always fight for the rights of the people as we believe in unity and equality and are committed for employment of youth and the development of the state which was reduced to a union territory from a state,” the Congress leader added.

Earlier, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi met the Abdullahs and the two sides reached an agreement on contesting the elections together. But differences over seat-sharing emerged and the negotiations have hit a roadblock. The Congress then rushed Venugopal and Khurshid to put an end to the impasse so that the parties can focus on prepping for the key election.

Omar Abdullah last week said seat-sharing with the Congress has been finalised for most assembly seats and talks are on to reach consensus over the ones remaining.

J&K will hold its first Assembly election in a decade over three phases beginning September 18. Voting will also take place on September 25 and October 1, with the results due on October 4.

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