The Congress party has announced its first list of candidates for the upcoming Jammu and Kashmir elections. The list includes three former unit chiefs of the J&K Congress: Ghulam Ahmed Mir, Peerzada Mohd Syed, and Vikar Rasool Wani.
Ghulam Ahmed Mir will contest from the Dooru Assembly seat in Anantnag district. Peerzada Mohd Syed is running from the Anantnag constituency. Vikar Rasool Wani will stand for election in the Banihal Assembly seat in Ramban district.
In addition to these three, the Congress has named several other candidates. Surinder Singh Channi will represent Tral in Pulwama district. Amanullah Mantoo will run from Devsar in Kulgam district. Sheikh Zafarullah is the candidate for Inderwal in Kishtwar district. Nadeem Sharief will contest from Bhadarwah in Doda district. Sheikh Riyaz is running in Doda, while Dr. Pradeep Kumar Bhagat will stand for Doda West.
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This candidate list includes names for three of the five seats where Congress and the National Conference (NC) will have a “friendly contest.” The announcement came late on Monday night after a day of intense negotiations between Congress and NC leaders.
During a press conference in Srinagar, NC President Farooq Abdullah, along with senior Congress leaders K.C. Venugopal, Salman Khurshid, and J&K unit chief Tariq Hameed Karra, revealed the seat-sharing agreement. The two parties have agreed on the distribution of 85 out of the total 90 seats. The NC will contest 51 of these seats, while Congress will run in 32. The remaining two seats will be contested by the CPI-M and the Panthers Party.
For the remaining five seats—Banihal, Doda, Nagrota, Bhaderwah in Jammu, and Sopore in the Valley—Congress and NC will engage in a friendly contest. Karra emphasized that despite the competition, the contest will be disciplined and cooperative.
The Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections will occur in three phases. The first phase, covering 24 seats, is on September 18. The second phase, covering 26 seats, is on September 25. The third phase, covering 40 seats, will be held on October 1. The results are scheduled to be announced on October 4.
