Congress announces first list of nine candidates for J&K assembly polls

The party has fielded two former chiefs of its J&K unit, Ghulam Ahmad Mir and Vikar Rasool Wani, from their Dooru and Banihal constituencies, respectively.

The Congress has announced its first nine candidates for the upcoming assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, fielding Ghulam Ahmad Mir and Vikar Rasool Wani, two former presidents of its J&K unit, from their Dooru and Banihal assembly constituencies, respectively.

Congress supporters with Congress flags ahead of a rally. (File photo)

The grand old party also named Surinder Singh Channi (Tral), Amanullah Mantoo (Devsar), Peerzada Mohd Syed (Anantnag), Sheikh Zafarullah (Inderwal), Nadeem Sharief (Bhadarwah), Sheikh Riyaz (Doda) and Dr Pradeep Kumar Bhagat (Doda West).

The Congress will fight 37 seats in the 90-member assembly. It will contest the elections with its INDIA bloc ally, the National Conference (NC); the agreement will see the parties contest 32 and 51 seats, respectively, while on five seats, they will be engaged in a ‘friendly but disciplined’ competition.

The remaining two seats have been given to Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Panthers Party.

The seat-sharing talks were sealed in a meeting between NC president Farooq Abdullah and his son and party deputy Omar Abdullah – the two are ex-chief ministers – with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and ex-chief Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha.

The meeting was held on Wednesday in Srinagar, the summer capital of the former state; the region lost both its special status (via abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution of India) and statehood in 2019, and is now a Union territory.

The assembly polls will be J&K's first since November-December 2014. Voting is on September 18, 25 and October 1, with counting of votes three days after the third and final phase.