“Congress, NC has accepted defeat before end of J&K assembly polls”: Union Minister G Kishan Reddy

Jammu (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], September 30 (ANI): The Congress and National Conference have both conceded defeat even ahead of the elections in Jammu and Kashmir according to Union Minister G Kishan Reddy following the conclusion of campaigning for the third and final phase for the Assembly polls.

Speaking to ANI on Sunday Reddy said that both parties were trying to “fool the people” by ending their campaign midday.

“Omar Abdullah said that our party won’t be there in the government…Rahul Gandhi has just visited once and said something wrong as well. Both parties have already accepted defeat before the end of the election. They are trying to fool the people by suspending the campaign when only half of the day is left,” he said.

The election-in-charge from Jammu and Kashmir further came down heavily on both parties over their “silence” on the attacks on Hindus and Bangladesh and said that the BJP had always supported democracy and called against “violence and bloodshed.”

“The BJP always says that violence and bloodshed won’t get anything to anyone and hence we support democracy. All countries should be together and war shouldn’t be there. PM Modi always said this; he said this even at the UN,” Reddy said.

On Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge being unwell during the last phase of campaigning, Reddy said, “Kahrge Ji is the president. He has to come. He has to say (during the campaign). He is the old person. Let him speak.”

The high-stakes campaigning for the third and final phase of polling in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections concluded on Sunday evening, with voting set to take place for 40 constituencies in the third phase. Of the 40 constituencies, 24 fall under the Jammu division and the remaining in Kashmir.

This election marks the first one in a decade and the first since the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019. The three-phase election is witnessing a multi-cornered fight for the 90 seats across the erstwhile state.

While the National Conference and the Congress are fighting the elections in an alliance, the People’s Democratic Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are the two other major players.

Meanwhile, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday became unwell while addressing a rally in the Jasrota area of Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua district. Kharge was discharged from a hospital in Kathua after he felt slightly unwell while addressing a public meeting in Jasrota.

Congress leader Thakur Balbir Singh said that the Congress President felt suffocated due to the extreme heat.

After taking a rest, Kharge resumed his speech, reassuring the crowd that his health was fine and saying that he was not going to die so early.

The third and final phase of polling is scheduled for October 1, while the counting of votes will take place on October 8.

Voter turnouts of 61 per cent and 57.31 per cent was recorded in the first and second phases of polling respectively in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, the Election Commission of India said on Friday.