J&K Assembly polls: Congress picks Salman Khurshid to coordinate with NC on seat sharing

New Delhi: Congress has tasked senior leader Salman Khurshid to coordinate with allies in Jammu and Kashmir for the Assembly elections to ensure that there remains no irritants while deciding on which seats to fight.

Sources said the party is rushing against the clock to finalise candidates for the first phase of elections as the last date of nominations is on August 27. While the Congress is likely to fight around ten seats, leaders expect there could be give and take and they need to tweak as the situation emerges.

On Friday, the Congress Central Election Committee headed by party chief Mallikarjun Kharge met here to finalise names for certain seats. The meeting was attended by senior leaders like Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, K C Venugopal, Ambika Soni, KJ George and TS Singhdeo among others.

While there is some clarity about four-five candidates, the party is waiting for final seat sharing to be in place to announce the nominees. A senior leader indicated that there could be some clarity by Sunday evening.

Anticipating hiccups in finalising the seat arrangements, Congress has asked Khurshid to engage allies and find solutions.

The National Conference is expected to get around 43 seats while Congress may get around 40 while seven seats are left for other parties, including the CPI(M).

CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury described National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah’s announcement about the alliance as a welcome development.

He added, “The declaration that all doors are open for everyone upholding ‘Insaniyat, Jamhooriyat and Kashmiriyat’ to work together for the interests of Jammu and Kashmir is significant. Together all patriots must ensure the Union Home Minister’s commitment to restore statehood of Jammu and Kashmir is realised.”