Congress CEC meeting underway at AICC headquarters

New Delhi [India], August 23 (ANI): The Congress Central Election Committee is currently meeting at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters in Delhi to discuss the upcoming Jammu and Kashmir elections.

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi are attending the meeting.

According to sources, discussions are focused on nine seats for the first phase of elections in Jammu and Kashmir, with candidates finalised for five of these seats.

On August 22, ahead of the Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections, the Congress and the National Conference (NC) announced a pre-poll alliance and confirmed that seat-sharing talks are underway.

The alliance was declared shortly after Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge met with NC leaders Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah in Srinagar on Thursday. Following the meeting, Farooq Abdullah stated that the Congress and the NC would contest all 90 seats in the assembly polls together.

Previously, the Congress and the NC had formed an alliance during the Lok Sabha elections, where the National Conference secured two seats–Anantnag and Srinagar–while the Congress did not win any seats.

The assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir are scheduled to be held in three phases on September 18, September 25, and October 1, with results to be announced on October 4.

The Election Commission has issued notifications for the first phase, covering 24 seats. These will be the first assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir since the abrogation of Article 370.