NC and Cong to jointly contest for Kashmir bypolls
National Conference and Congress party will join hands together to contest for the forthcoming bypolls in Jammu & Kashmir
Srinagar, Mar 15: The National Conference and Congress on Wednesday decided to jointly contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha bypolls in Jammu and Kashmir, in a bid to put up a "combined fight against the ruling PDP-BJP coalition."
The main opposition parties of the state said National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah will contest from Srinagar constituency, while JKPCC chief Ghulam Ahmad Mir will face the Anantnag.
"For the past few days, both the parties - NC and Congress – conducted internal exercises and came to the conclusion that if we really want to defeat the candidates of the present government in Srinagar and Anantnag Parliamentary constituencies, the best thing to do is to fight the elections jointly.
"So we have decided that from Srinagar constituency, we will put up an NC candidate and from Anantnag, a Congress candidate," National Conference working president Omar Abdullah told reporters here.
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He was flanked by Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) president Ghulam Ahmad Mir and other NC and Congress leaders. "We will try to put up a combined fight. All my colleagues from south Kashmir will work for Mir's success. Similarly, Mir has assured me that Congress and its friends will make efforts to make Farooq successful by a huge majority," the former chief minister said.
The
ruling
PDP
has
fielded
Mufti
Tassaduq
Hussain,
cinematographer-turned-politician
son
of
PDP
founder
late
Mufti
Mohammad
Sayeed,
from
Anantnag
seat.
The
seat
was
vacated
by
Hussain's
sister
and
Chief
Minister
Mehbooba
Mufti.
The
party
also
announced
that
Nazir
Ahmad
Khan,
who
recently
joined
the
PDP
from
Congress,
would
fight
the
by-polls
from
the
prestigious
Srinagar
Lok
Sabha
seat.
While
Srinagar
constituency
will
go
to
polls
on
April
9,
polling
in
Anantnag
seat
will
be
held
on
April
12.
Anantnag
seat
fell
vacant
in
June
last
after
Mehbooba
won
the
assembly
,
as
required
by
law,
to
continue
as
the
Chief
Minister.
The Srinagar Lok Sabha seat was vacated by former PDP leader Tariq Hamid Karra, who had resigned last year in September in protest against alleged "brutalities" on Kashmir protesters. Karra, who had won the election against Farooq, joined Congress afterwards.
PTI