Jammu Kashmir Assembly Election 2024: The Uddhav Thackeray faction is all set to enter the poll fray in Jammu and Kashmir where elections are scheduled to take place this month for the Legislative Assembly.
The party will contest the polls on 20 seats, said party leader Anand Dubey, against its two INDIA bloc allies, Congress and the National Conference.
"Elections are being held in Jammu and Kashmir after the removal of Article 370 and we are delighted, Shiv Sena had a huge contribution in the removal of Article 370, we will contest elections on 20 seats here," Dubey said.
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Congress and NC are fighting the polls under a seat-sharing agreement where the National Conference will field candidates on 51 of 90 seats while Congress will enter the fray from 32 seats.
Polling will be held in three phases starting from September 18 and the subsequent two phases on September 25 and October 1. Votes will be counted on October 4.
Elections in Jammu and Kashmir will be held for the first time after the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019. The decision by the Centre was challenged in the Supreme Court and the apex court upheld the BJP government's decision in December last year.
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Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray had welcomed the judgment and wondered whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi would "guarantee" the safe return of Kashmiri Pandits to their erstwhile home state.
He had also demanded that the elections be held soon in Jammu and Kashmir as was directed by the Supreme Court.
"We welcome the verdict of the Supreme Court. We had supported the move when Article 370 was scrapped. We also welcome the SC's directives to conduct elections by next September. We hope that elections are held soon and people get to vote in a free atmosphere," Thackeray said.