New Delhi: On Monday, the Congress Party convened a Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting at its headquarters in New Delhi to finalize its candidates for the remaining seats in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections. This follows the party’s announcement of nine candidates on August 27. The meeting was chaired by Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, with Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and General Secretary KC Venugopal also in attendance.

Following the CEC meeting, Congress leader TS Singh Deo announced, "The party has already declared nine candidates for the J&K Assembly elections. Today, we discussed 29 assembly seats. The final list will be announced soon." Congress leader Ambika Soni revealed that, aside from three seats, the party has finalized its candidates for all constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir. "Apart from three seats, all the seats were decided today; the second list will be out shortly," Soni added.

The Congress had previously announced its first list of nine candidates for the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections on August 27. The candidates include Ghulam Ahmad Mir for Dooru, Vikar Rasool Wani for Banihal, Peerzada Mohd Syed for Anantnag, and Sheikh Riaz for Doda. Additionally, Surinder Singh Channi will contest from Tral, Amanullah Mantoo from Devsar, Shaikh Zafarullah from Inderwal, Nadeem Sharief from Bhadarwah, and Pradeep Kumar Bhagat from Doda West.

According to the seat-sharing agreement, the National Conference (NC) will contest 51 of the 90 seats, while Congress will compete for 32. The two parties will also contest five seats against each other, with one seat each reserved for the CPI(M) and the Panthers Party. The Samajwadi Party (SP) has extended its support to the Congress-National Conference alliance for the Jammu and Kashmir polls.

Jammu and Kashmir's 90 assembly constituencies include 7 seats reserved for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and 9 for Scheduled Tribes (STs). The Election Commission of India reports that Jammu and Kashmir has 88.06 lakh eligible electors.

In the previous Assembly elections, the People's Democratic Party (PDP) won 28 seats, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured 25, the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (NC) won 15, and the Congress took 12. The PDP and BJP formed a coalition government under Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, which ended in 2018 when the BJP withdrew support following Sayeed's death and Mehbooba Mufti's assumption of leadership. These elections will be the first in Jammu and Kashmir since the abrogation of Article 370.

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