Jammu-Kashmir: PDP Part Of INDI Alliance, Not Seat-Sharing, Says Congress As It Declares Pact With National Conference

In a joint press conference of National Conference (NC) and Congress, Omar Abdullah declared on Monday (8 April) that the two parties will contest three seats each in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

"Congress candidates will contest from Udhampur, Jammu and Ladakh Lok Sabha seats and National Conference candidates will contest from Anantnag, Baramulla and Srinagar Lok Sabha seats," he told media.

"Chaudhary Lal Singh will contest from Udhampur, Raman Bhalla from Jammu and Mian Altaf Sahib from Anantnag. The candidates for the remaining seats will be announced soon," Abdullah added.

This comes a day after Mehbooba Mufti-led People's Democratic Party (PDP) declared three candidates of Kashmir valley. Waheed Para is fielded from Srinagar and Fayaz Mir from Baramulla.

The party president Mehbooba Mufti will contest from Anantnag, making it a three-cornered fight with Democratic Progressive Azad Party's (DPAP) Ghulam Nabi Azad (former Congress leader) and NC's Mian Altaf.

Senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid was present during the press conference and explained that while the PDP is part of the INDI Alliance, "seat adjustment is a different thing".

Earlier, it was proposed that the NC will contest the Srinagar and Baramulla seats while leaving the Anantnag seat for PDP. However, having won all three seats of Kashmir Valley in the 2019 elections, NC refused to leave any seat.

It instead asked the Congress to share one of its three seats with the PDP. However, PDP was unwilling to contest in Jammu and Ladakh and hence, Congress is contesting these three seats itself.

In 2019, all these three seats were won by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The BJP has given tickets to its incumbent Jammu MPs -- Union Minister Jitendra Singh and Jugal Kishore Sharma.