Srinagar: The Congress and National Conference have reached a deal to share Jammu and Kashmir's 90 Assembly seats ahead of next month's election, senior leaders from each side said Monday evening, bringing talks to a successful end hours before the deadline to file nominations for the first phase.
The NC will contest the majority of seats - 51 - and the Congress will contest 32, the latter's J&K unit chief, Tariq Hameed Karra, told reporters, adding two will be left for the CPIM and Panthers Party.
Significantly, there will be a "friendly but disciplined contest" on five seats, which suggests that differences between the two parties - both of whom are part of the INDIA opposition bloc - were not fully ironed out, even after the Congress rushed two senior leaders to Srinagar this morning.
This will be the first Assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir in a decade; the 2019 poll was not held after the centre scrapped Article 370 and 35A, and bifurcated J&K into two union territories.
"It is a matter of great happiness... we started this campaign together against forces trying to divide people here. The INDIA bloc was formed so we can fight forces that want to communalise, divide, and break the country," NC boss and former ex Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah told the press.
"Today we have completed negotiations and have completed coordination in a very good (and) cordial atmosphere. The Congress and the National Conference will fight the election together..."
Congress leader KC Venugopal, one of the two big names deployed, echoed the sentiment.
"We have completed our discussion and reached a formula... we will fight together and we will win the J&K election. The Congress and National Conference are coming together to form the next government..." the Lok Sabha MP declared, accusing the BJP of "trying to destroy the soul of J&K".
Earlier today sources told NDTV the NC had offered the Congress only five seats in the Kashmir Valley and between 28 and 30 in the Jammu region. The national party, however, was holding out for more, particularly in areas its ally perceived as strongholds.
That the Congress and NC were going to fight this election together had been announced earlier.
In fact, this became evident after Congress MP Rahul Gandhi's visit to Farooq Abdullah's Srinagar home last week. This is the first time since 1987 the two parties are in a pre-poll alliance in J&K.
"We had a good meeting, in a cordial atmosphere. The alliance is on track and god willing, it will go smoothly. The alliance is final. It will be signed this evening and the alliance is on all 90 seats," Farooq Abdullah had said after meeting Mr Gandhi.
NC leader Omar Abdullah, Farooq Abdullah's son and a former Chief Minister too, too had said last week that a broad agreement had been reached. "Consensus has been reached to a large extent...I can tell you we have reached a consensus on the maximum seats out of the 90," he told the media.
However, after it seemed seat-sharing talks were failing the Congress sent Mr Venugopal and Salman Khurshid to bring them back on track. The two met Omar Abdullah this morning.
READ | Congress Rushes 2 Leaders To J&K Amid Seat-Share Dispute With NC
Omar Abdullah - who had earlier declared he would not contest a J&K election as long as it remains a union territory - has backtracked and will fight from Ganderbal, it was announced then. He won the seat in 2008 and his father held it for three consecutive terms between 1983 and 1996.
Confirmation of the Congress-NC alliance drew fierce barbs from the BJP.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah fired 10 questions at the Congress last week and accused the party, which he said had "played with the unity and security of the country in its greed for power" in the past - of again "putting itself before the country".
READ | "Does Congress Support...": Amit Shah's 10-Point Attack Over J&K Election
Of course, the red flag for the BJP was the NC saying it would strive to restore statehood for J&K and special rights for its 'permanent residents', under the now-scrapped Article 35A.
The BJP, meanwhile, released its first two lists today, albeit with some confusion.
READ | BJP Announces J&K Candidates, Then Trims List For 1st Phase Only
J&K will hold its first Assembly election in a decade over three phases beginning September 18. Voting will also take place on September 25 and October 1, with the results due on October 4.
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