NEW DELHI: A day after the Congress and the National Conference (NC) sealed a pre-poll alliance for the assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, the Central Election Committee (CEC) of Congress convened a meeting on Friday to decide the candidates for the first phase of the polls.
The meeting was attended by Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi. Assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir will be held in three phases — September 18, September 25 and October 1.
According to sources, the Congress will decide on the candidates for nine seats in the first phase of the elections and the rest will be decided later.
Meanwhile, National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah on Friday said seat-sharing arrangement with the Congress has been finalised for a majority of assembly seats in Jammu and Kashmir, and that parleys were underway to reach consensus over the remaining constituencies.
He said discussions over the rest of the seats were going on and the allies will soon finalise the seat-sharing arrangement.
“On few seats, we are adamant and on some others, the local leaders of the Congress are adamant. There will be meetings today as well and we will try to sort out the rest of the seats so as to announce our candidates,” he added.
The former chief minister of the erstwhile state of J&K, however, refused to share further details.
Asked when the party would announce its candidates for the rest of the seats going to polls in the first phase, Omar said there is no hurry. “Which party has announced its candidates so far? A party has cleverly named people as constituency in-charges. Our constituency in-charges have been working for the last 10 years. So why are you after our lists? Ask them. Our list will have to be out in any case by August 27,” he said, apparently referring to the PDP.