Another piece of politics-related news is that former J&K darling, the then Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, has declared his stand to fight in the coming J&K assembly polls from Ganderbal.
It is recognised as a very strong NLAC party’s belt, from which three generations of the Abdullah family have been voted to power. In 1977, the first election under the constitution saw the founder of NC, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, win the seat, followed by his son Farooq Abdullah, who won the seat in 1983, 1987, and 1996. Thankfully, Omar Abdullah was elected from the constituency in 2008.
The party’s central leadership has taken Omar Abdullah’s decision after the former chief minister said he would not contest elections until the state of Jammu and Kashmir is given its full statehood. However, he has now been much more lenient about this because of the recent announcement of the poll schedule by the Election Commission of India.
Omar Abdullah was included in the second list of 32 candidates released by the National Conference yesterday, Tuesday. The party has reached a seat adjustment with its partner for the assembly elections, the Congress party.
According to the seat-sharing formula, the National Conference will contest 51 seats, and the Congress party will contest 32 assembly segments. The two parties will, therefore, contest for the remaining five seats on a friendly basis. Two seats have also been earmarked for their supporting parties, including the CPI(M) and the National Panthers Party.
National Conference and Congress party alliance was declared earlier by Farooq Abdullah after he along with his son Omar Abdullah met Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and national Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge.
Congress’ KC Venugopal added, clarifying that the alliance’s purpose remains to safeguard the spirit of Jammu and Kashmir: “The BJP is hell-bent upon liquidating the soul of Jammu and Kashmir; the INDIA bloc will fight united to save it. We shall stake united to form the government in Jammu and Kashmir.
