J&K Polls: Omar Abdullah To Contest From This Seat As NC Releases Second List Of Candidates

Jammu and Kashmir Elections: The National Conference announced its second list of 32 candidates on Tuesday.

National Conference leader and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has ended the suspense over the seat on which he will contest the upcoming Assembly polls. The National Conference released its second list of 32 candidates which included the name of Omar Abdullah as well. 

The NC leader has been fielded to contest the polls from Ganderbal. With this Omar will once again test his political fortune after losing Baramulla Lok Sabha seat to Independent candidate Engineer Rashid during the general elections. 

The party announced candidates on 32 seats which are: Kangan (ST), Ganderbal, Hazratbal, Khanyar, Habba Kadal, Lal Chowk, Chanapora, Zadibal, Eidgah, Khan Sahib, Char-I-Sharif, Chadoora, Gulab Ghar (ST), Kalakote/Sunderbani, Nowshera, Budhal (ST), Poonch Haveli, Mendhar, Karnah, Trehgam, Kupwara, Lolab, Handwara, Sopore, Rafiabad, Uri, Baramulla, Tangmarg, Pattan, Sonwari, Guraz (ST), and Jammu North. 

The Congress and National Conference resolved their brief disagreement over seat allocation in the state, after which both the parties announced their candidates. As part of the INDIA bloc, the two parties will jointly contest 85 out of 90 seats, with a friendly contest on the remaining 5 seats. 

Earlier, the National Conference announced a list of 18 candidate for the first phase of polling. Retd Justice Hussnain Masoodi from Pampore, Mohammad Khalil Bandh from Pulwama, Mohi-ud-din Mir from Rajpora, Showkat Hussain Ganie from Zainpora, Sheikh Mohammad Rafi from Shopian and Sakina Ittoo from D.H. Pora were named in the first list of candidates.

The Congress will field candidates in 32 of the shared seats, while the National Conference will contest on 51 seats. Additionally, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Panthers Party have each been allocated one seat. 

With nominations closing on Tuesday, the first phase of polling is set for September 18, followed by subsequent phases on September 25 and October 1, and the final results on October 4.