Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections: National Conference-Congress in for ‘friendly fights’

The National Conference and the Congress on Monday succeeded in salvaging the seat-sharing agreement for the upcoming Jammu and Kashmir elections from the brink after hours-long discussions during which the national party rushed its troubleshooters from Delhi to keep the fledgling alliance afloat. According to the deal reached after two rounds of negotiations, the NC gets to contest 51 seats while the Congress 32 of the 90-seat Assembly. Other allies will contest two seats, while there will be a “friendly contest” between the two major players in five constituencies. The seat-sharing arrangement, announced last week, appeared on the brink after the two sides hardened their stand. The Congress on Monday rushed senior leaders K.C. Venugopal and Salman Khurshid to Srinagar to prevent a breakdown. Venugopal and Khurshid held two rounds of discussion with NC leaders led by president Farooq Abdullah and the deal was announced later in the evening.The National Conference and the Congress on Monday succeeded in salvaging the seat-sharing agreement for the upcoming Jammu and Kashmir elections from the brink after hours-long discussions during which the national party rushed its troubleshooters from Delhi to keep the fledgling alliance afloat. According to the deal reached after two rounds of negotiations, the NC gets to contest 51 seats while the Congress 32 of the 90-seat Assembly. Other allies will contest two seats, while there will be a “friendly contest” between the two major players in five constituencies. ADVERTISEMENT The seat-sharing arrangement, announced last week, appeared on the brink after the two sides hardened their stand. The Congress on Monday rushed senior leaders K.C. Venugopal and Salman Khurshid to Srinagar to prevent a breakdown. Venugopal and Khurshid held two rounds of discussion with NC leaders led by president Farooq Abdullah and the deal was announced later in the evening. ADVERTISEMENT Ads by 01:26 / 10:23 Congress Jammu and Kashmir chief Tariq Karra said the agreement was reached in a very cordial atmosphere in which the two sides understood the sensitivities of each other. “There were some contentious constituencies which we reviewed again,” Karra told reporters in the presence of Farooq and Venugopal. “We were facing difficulties but in a very disciplined manner from sides, we narrowed down the seats for the friendly contest to five. Over and above, one seat was left for CPIM (Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami) and one for the Panthers Party (Harsh Dev Singh).” Time was running out for both parties as the last date for filing nominations for the first phase was Tuesday. The Congress’s last-minute discussions were held at a time when the BJP, too, faced protests after it released its first list of candidates for 44 of the 90-seat Assembly. The list was later withdrawn and a revised list of 15 candidates for the first phase was issued. The BJP claimed they were supposed to release the list for the first phase only but other candidates’ names were mistakenly released. A second list was issued which, however, had only one name.