Congress, National Conference may contest 6 J&K seats together

Srinagar: Seat-sharing talks between Congress and the National Conference (NC) in Jammu and Kashmir are underway and if all goes well the two parties may contest the Lok Sabha polls in the state on 50:50 seat sharing basis, sources in the two parties said on Sunday.

J&K has six Lok Sabha seats three in the Kashmir Valley, two in the Jammu division, and one in the Ladakh division.

Though the NC has already announced its candidates for Srinagar and Baramulla seats of the Valley and Jammu-Poonch seat of Jammu division, its leadership is learnt to have conveyed to Congress that it may leave the remaining Udhampur-Doda seat of Jammu division and the lone Ladakh seat for Congress.

On the other hand, Congress resolved to stake claim on the Jammu-Poonch, Udhampur-Doda, and Ladakh Lok Sabha seats and go for 3-3 seat sharing formula with a ‘like-minded regional party’ in the state.

On Sunday, NC vice-president and former chief minister Omar Abdullah said that his party is open to a pre-poll alliance with Congress if the latter agrees to its seat sharing arrangement.

He also said that by not holding Lok Sabha and state Assembly elections simultaneously, the people of J&K are being denied a chance to elect their representatives.

Replying to a question, he said, “It is pointless to expect any progress on resolution of Kashmir issue till elections are held both at the Centre and state levels.”

On former IAS officer Shah Faesal’s launching his party, the NC leader said, “It remains to be seen if he and his party will have anything new to offer.”

He said that as chief minister he never felt the need to ban Jamaat-e-Islami.

During the weekend, senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad had held a crucial meeting of the party’s election management committee in Jammu.