Srinagar: As already reported by KO, the National Conference and Congress on Wednesday decided to contest the parliament by-polls together through seat sharing arrangements in the Kashmir Valley.
Addressing a joint news conference here at local hotel, the opposition mainstream parties said that the NC president, Dr Farooq Abdullah will contest the parliament by-polls from Srinagar seat while the JKPCC chief, G A Mir will contest from Anantnag seat.
Omar said that alliance between the two parties is not compulsion but it is a strategy to emerge as winner in the by-polls. The alliance doesnt took place due to the shortage of candidates but for the reason that anti-establishment vote should not get divided. We think that there was no better way besides going for alliance to emerge as winners in the parliament by-polls. There are no compulsions in the politics but all the decisions are being taken after the proper discussion, he said.
He further said that from today, his colleagues will start campaigning for the victory of the G A Mir. We had various discussions regarding the alliance and before addressing presser, we met at the residence of Farooq Abdullah to discuss the matter. The congress party has assured us that they will extend their full support in the by-elections.
Meanwhile, Mir said that after the notice of ECI was made public regarding the by-polls, they decided to choose the candidates together. Besides NC-Cong discussion, we met with the people as well who suggested us to go for by-polls together. We will strongly contest the elections to defeat our counterparts, Mir added.
He said that it is a challenge to contest the elections at present. The state government must provide adequate security so that the campaigning for the seats wont get affected, he said.
He said that government has snatched all the security from them. The bullet proof vehicles and other major security have been withdrawn from us by the government. We appeal to the ECI to direct the government to provide adequate security so that the campaigning wont get affected, he added.
The parties also said that since 2014 particularly from last year, both the parties are working together to highlight the plights of Kashmiris. We will try to focus on the sufferings of youth and will try to highlight the plights of people of Kashmir. Besides, we will stress upon the dialogue process, which is the only way to resolve the Kashmir issue, the allied parties said.
Saying that there were several reasons behind the defeat despite going for the polls together in the year 2014, the parties said, It is not good to blame each other over 2014 defeat but we have to think about future and we will try to give good fight in the elections, NC-Cong added.
Notably, over 27 lakh voters will cast their votes in the by-polls to Srinagar and Anantnag Lok Sabha constituencies on April 9 and 12 in Jammu and Kashmir, the Chief Electoral Officer of the state had said.
CEO J&K, Shantmanu had said that special polling stations have also been set up at Jammu, Udhampur and Delhi for more than 73,000 migrant voters.
The last date for filing nominations has been fixed as March 21 for Srinagar and March 24 for Anantnag respectively.
He had informed that counting of votes would be held on April 15 and the election process would be completed on April 16. (KNS)
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