The Congress and the National Conference, which is also part of the INDIA bloc, finalised seat-sharing talks ahead of the Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir.
While the National Conference will contest from 51 seats out of the 90 constituencies in the state, the Congress will contest from 32 seats.
Meanwhile, both parties will take on each other in "friendly fights" in five Assembly constituencies, which includes four in Jammu division and one in the Kashmir valley.
The Congress and the National Conference will contest against each other in Banihal, Doda, Bhaderwah and Nagrota constituencies in Jammu, and in Sopore region in Kashmir.
Sources said that it was the only option left for both parties as an alliance agreement on these five seats would have triggered a rebellion in both parties.
BANIHAL CONSTITUENCY
Congress has fielded Vikar Rasool Wani from the Banihal constituency, while the National Conference has fielded Sajjad Shaheen from the Muslim majority seat.
Meanwhile, Sajjad Shaheen is the National Conference's district president of Ramban. Notably, he contested from Banihal in 2008 and 2014, but was defeated by Wani.
DODA CONSTITUENCY
The Doda constituency was split into two seats after demilitation, into Doda and Doda West. Doda is a Muslim majority seat, while Doda West is a Hindu majority seat. In 2014, the BJP had won the Assembly elections in Doda.
The Congress has fielded Sheikh Riyaz from Doda, while the National Conference has fielded Khalid Najib Suharwady from the region.
Sheikh Riyaz started his political career as a sarpanch and was the general secretary of J&K Congress when Vikar Wani was the Congress president. His wife is a District Development Council member.
On the other hand, Najib Suharwardy comes from a political family. His father, Maulana Attaullah Suharwady, had won from Doda in the 1996 Assembly elections. Najib Suharwady was elected from Doda in the by-elections in 1997 after his father's demise.
Najib served as the state's home minister from 2001 to 2002 in the then chief minister Farooq Abdullah's government. He also served as an MLC from 2009 to 2015 and is seen as a strong candidate.
BHADERWAH CONSTITUENCY
Congress has fielded Nadeem Sharief from the Bhaderwah constituency, while the National Conference has fielded Sheikh Mehboob Iqbal from the seat.
Notably, the BJP had won from Bhaderwah in the 2014 Assembly elections.
A relative of former Congress MP Ghulam Nabi Azad, Sharief won the District Development Council election in 2020 and is a member of the district development council of Doda as well.
His father, Mohammad Sharief, was a two-time MLA of Bhaderwah, and also served as a minister in 1989 and 2002.
On the other hand, Sheikh Iqbal is a bureaucrat-turned politician. Iqbal retired as the commissioner secretary in the Jammu and Kashmir government and has also served as the divisional commissioner of Kashmir division and a deputy commissioner in several districts in Jammu and Kashmir.
He joined the People's Democratic Party (PDP) after retirement and found from Bhaderwah in the 2014 Assembly polls. Later, he left the PDP and joined the National Conference.
NAGROTA CONSTITUENCY
The Hindu majority seat of Nagrota will go to polls in the last phase on October 1. Notably, Devender Singh Rana had won from this seat in 2014 on a National Conference ticket. However, Rana joined the BJP later and is now the BJP's candidate from Nagrota.
The Congress and the National Congress will have a "friendly fight" from this seat as well, but are yet to decide their candidates.
SOPORE CONSTITUENCY
Two-time MLA Abdul Rashid Dar has been fielded by the Congress against National Conference's Irshad Kar.
Irshad Kar is the son of Ghulam Rasool Kar, a senior Congress leader from North Kashmir, who was also the president of the Congress.
Both leaders have a strong support base in the once terrorist hotbed of Sopore, due to which both parties didn't backdown from fielding their candidates.
Source: India Today