J&K elections: No clarity yet over seat-sharing between Congress & NC

Congress leaders, including KC Venugopal and Salman Khurshid, to meet NC president Dr Farooq Abdullah and vice president Omar Abdullah to break stalemate

Srinagar: Congress has rushed its senior leaders to Srinagar to discuss seat-sharing arrangements with the National Conference (NC) as a consensus on the issue has eluded the two parties so far.

Congress sources said here that senior party leaders, including KC Venugopal and Salman Khurshid, will meet NC president Dr Farooq Abdullah and vice president Omar Abdullah in Srinagar on Monday to break the stalemate on the seat-sharing arrangement.

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Sources said the Congress expects a better share of the Assembly seats in Kashmir as it is ready to concede more seats to the NC in the Jammu division. The Congress has appreciable influence in the Jammu division while the NC is well entrenched in the Muslim-majority Valley.

Congress has some pockets of influence in the Valley as it won three to four seats during the Assembly elections in the past, including Dooru and Shangus in Anantnag and Sopore and Uri in the Baramulla district. The JKPCC chief, Tariq Hameed Karra belongs to the Batmaloo area of Srinagar city.

Congress is expecting the NC to concede this seat to the Congress to accommodate the JKPCC chief. What gives credence to Congress’ stand for a better deal in the Valley is the statement of senior Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi during his recent visit to J&K.

After meeting Dr Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah in their high-security Gupkar residence in Srinagar, Rahul Gandhi said the prestige and larger interest of Congress workers would not be compromised while sharing seats with the NC for the upcoming Assembly elections.

On the other hand, the NC leadership expects the Congress to realise that the NC is well entrenched in the Valley as well as in the Muslim-dominated Assembly seats in Rajouri, Poonch, Doda districts and some other areas in the Jammu division. Both these political parties are expecting to have their cake and also be able to eat it.

Given the political chemistry of J&K, unless both the Congress and the NC agree to rise above party considerations as far as possible to fight the elections jointly, an agreement on seat-sharing would not be possible given the political compulsions of the two parties.

J&K Assembly Commission of India has announced a 3-phase poll schedule for the Assembly elections in J&K. Voting for the first phase will take place on September 15, for the second phase on September 28 and for the last phase on October 1. Counting will take place on October 4 and the entire poll process will be over by October 6.