Assembly elections 2024: Kharge, Rahul Gandhi to visit Jammu, Srinagar on August 21, 22

New Delhi [India], August 20 (ANI): Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi will visit Jammu and Srinagar for key meetings in preparation for the upcoming assembly elections, Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal said on Tuesday.

“On 21st and 22nd August, Hon’ble Congress President Shri Mallikarjun @kharge ji and Leader of Opposition Shri @RahulGandhi ji will be visiting Jammu and Srinagar for key meetings in preparation for the upcoming assembly elections,” Venugopal said in a post on X.

Whether Congress and the JKNC will partner in the state elections remains to be seen. Both parties are constituents of the INDIA bloc and contested the Lok Sabha polls in an alliance.

On August 18, Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC) Vice President Omar Abdullah said that his party has started preparing for the Assembly elections.

“Give us some time, we have begun our preparations. On August 20, the notification will be issued for the first phase. Following this, we will announce the names of our candidates and hope for a victory. It would be better if the BJP doesn’t talk about over-confidence. We only said that we were hoping to receive the support of the people and get a chance to form the government. We are not counting the number of seats. The BJP has always counted the number (seats) here,” Omar said.

Omar Abdullah also launched the Party manifesto that includes some huge promises like- restoration of Article 370, 35-A and statehood, redrawing the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 and return and rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits.

The first guarantee of the NC’s manifesto envisages the restoration of the political and legal status of the Union Territory and said that the party would strive to restore Article 370-35A and statehood prior to August 5, 2019.

The polling in the UT will be held in three phases on September 18, 25, and October 1, as per the Election Commission of India. The counting of the votes will take place on October 4. These are the first elections to be held in Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370.

The election body has directed the enforcement agencies to be impartial and transparent for smooth and fair polling, ensuring a level playing field. There are a total of 90 assembly constituencies, of which 74 are general, nine are ST, and seven are SC. There are 87.09 lakh total electors, including 44.46 lakh are male, 42.62 lakh are female, 169 are transgender, 82,590 PwDs, 73943 are very senior citizens, 2660 are centenarians, 76092 are service electors, and 3.71 lakh are first-time voters.

Jammu and Kashmir will witness elections after a gap of ten years, as the last assembly election was held in 2014. The PDP-BJP coalition government fell in June 2018 when the latter withdrew support to the then-Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti. In December of last year, the Supreme Court directed the Centre to conclude the election process by September 30, 2024.