National Conference and Congress Tackle Seat Sharing Ahead of Jammu and Kashmir Elections

The National Conference and Congress are in final talks to iron out seat-sharing issues for Jammu and Kashmir's upcoming Assembly elections. Senior Congress leaders have rushed to Srinagar to negotiate. The BJP has announced its first list of candidates. Polling will occur in three phases starting September 18.

The National Conference (NC) and Congress are set to have a decisive meeting on Monday to address their seat-sharing disagreements for the upcoming Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir. The deadline to file nominations for the first phase is on August 27.

Senior Congress leaders KC Venugopal and Salman Khurshid have been dispatched to Srinagar to finalize the seat-sharing arrangement. Reliable sources within Congress state the party is pushing to contest at least 8 out of the 24 seats in the first phase, while the NC has offered 35 out of 90 seats overall against Congress's demand of 37.

If these talks fail to yield an agreement, Congress is considering contesting solo. Both parties aim to clarify their positions by August 26, with NC leader Nasir Aslam confirming further details will be available by that evening.

In contrast, the BJP on Monday declared its first slate of 15 candidates for the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections. Among the candidates are Syed Showkat Andrabi for Pampore and Javed Qari for Shopian. Polling is scheduled for three phases on September 18, 25, and October 1, with results to be announced on October 4.

These elections carry significant weight as the first since the abrogation of Article 370. In the last assembly polls, the PDP and BJP formed a coalition government, which ended in 2018 when BJP withdrew support following Mufti Mohammed Sayeed's death.

(With inputs from agencies.)