Srinagar: National Conference to announce two candidates this week

Srinagar, April 10

The National Conference (NC) will announce the names of the two candidates for the remaining two seats of Kashmir — north Kashmir’s Baramulla and the Srinagar seat — this week, party president Dr Farooq Abdullah said.

“We will be announcing the names of the remaining two candidates this week,” Abdullah told mediapersons after Eid prayers today at Hazratbal.

On Monday, the Congress and National Conference announced their seat-sharing agreement for Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh region for the Lok Sabha elections, with each party getting three seats each.

According to the agreement, Congress will field its candidates in Udhampur, Jammu, and Ladakh Lok Sabha seats while the National Conference will fight elections in Anantnag, Baramulla and Srinagar.

Ahead of the agreement, the National Conference had already made an announcement that it will be contesting three seats from Kashmir.

The National Conference had also announced the name of the south Kashmir constituency candidate Mian Altaf, even though the People’s Democratic Party had shown interest in contesting from the seat.

The seat-sharing announcement between Congress and PDP came days after PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti announced she would contest Lok Sabha poll from all seats in Kashmir, accusing Omar Abdullah of forcing the PDP to take the extreme decision. The PDP, however, said they would not contest against Congress in Jammu.

Mehbooba Mufti will be contesting the Lok Sabha elections from Anantnag-Rajouri, making it a high-profile contest as Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) chief and former Congress veteran Ghulam Nabi Azad and NC leader Mian Altaf Ahmad are also contesting from this seat.