J&K Elections: NC Releases List Of 18 Candidates After Seat-Sharing Agreement With Congress

The party also named Peerzada Feroze Ahmad from Devsar, Chowdary Zaffer Ahmad from Larnoo, Abdul Majeed Larmi from Anantnag West and Dr Bashir Ahmad Veeri from Bijbehrara.

The National Conference on Monday released a list of 18 candidates for the for the first phase of the Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections.  

The party lists included- 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. 

The party also named Peerzada Feroze Ahmad from Devsar, Chowdary Zaffer Ahmad from Larnoo, Abdul Majeed Larmi from Anantnag West and Dr Bashir Ahmad Veeri from Bijbehrara.

For the seats in Jammu region, the NC announced Mehboob Iqbal from Bhaderwah, Khalid Najeeb Soharwardy from Doda, Arjun Singh Raju from Ramban, Sajad Shaheen from Banihal, former minister Sajad Kichloo from Kishtwar and Pooja Thokur from Pader-Nagsani. The party in a post on X said the list of candidates was approved by NC president Farooq Abdullah. 

The announcement comes hours after the NC concluded seat-sharing agreement with the Congress. The National Conference agreed to contest 51 seats while the Congress will fight on 32 seats for the assembly polls. They also said there will be a friendly contest on five seats of the Union Territory.

Meanwhile, one seat each has been allotted to the CPI(M) and the Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP).

Assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir will be held in three phases -- September 18, September 25 and October 1. The counting of votes will be held on October 4. The Union Territory is going to polls for the first time since the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019.