The National Conference (NC) and Congress have officially formed a pre-poll alliance for the upcoming Jammu Kashmir Assembly elections, agreeing to a seat-sharing arrangement across the 90 assembly segments.
Under this alliance, the NC will field candidates in 51 constituencies, while Congress will contest 32 seats. Additionally, Congress has agreed to leave two of its seats for the CPI (M) and Panthers Party.
This collaboration is aimed at consolidating their respective strengths and countering other political forces in the region.
As part of this alliance, the two parties have divided the 24 assembly segments that will go to the polls in the first phase on September 18. The NC has announced candidates for 18 of these constituencies, while the remaining six will be contested by Congress.
For the NC, Retired Justice Hussnain Masoodi will be contesting from Pampore, and Mohammad Khalil Bandh has been fielded in Pulwama. Gh. Mohi-Ud-Din Mir will represent the party in Rajpora, while Showkat Hussain Ganie is the candidate for Zainapora. In Shopian, NC has chosen Sheikh Mohammad Rafi as its candidate, and Sakina Ittoo will run from D.H. Pora. Peerzada Feroze Ahmad is set to contest from Devsar, and Chowdary Zaffer Ahmad from Larnoo. Abdul Majeed Larmi has been nominated for Anantnag West, with Dr. Bashir Ahmad Veeri running in Bijbehara and Reyaz Ahmad Khan in Anantnag East. Altaf Ahmad Kaloo will represent the NC in Pahalgam, while Mehboob Iqbal is the candidate in Bhaderwah, and Khalid Najeeb Soharwardy in Doda. Arjun Singh Raju has been selected for Ramban, Sajad Shaheen for Banihal, and Sajad Kichloo for Kishtwar. Lastly, Pooja Thokur will be contesting from Padder-Nagseni.
The remaining six segments—Dooru, Kokernag (ST), Anantnag, Doda West, and Ramban—will see Congress candidates in the fray and one will be congested by Mohammed Yusuf Tarigami of CPIM.
This distribution reflects the seat-sharing arrangement between the two parties, designed to optimize their chances in these crucial constituencies.
Both parties are working closely together to strengthen their position and maximize their electoral gains in the region.