Body blow for INDIA bloc in J&K: National Conference says will contest all 3 Valley seats, PDP still holds out hope

In a setback to the INDIA alliance of Opposition parties ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the National Conference (NC) has decided to contest all three Lok Sabha seats in the Kashmir Valley. This will pit the NC and the Peoples Democratic Party, the Valley’s two major mainstream parties, against each other. This also places a major question mark over the Peoples Alliance for the Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), an alliance of political parties in the Valley that was formed in 2020 to fight for the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status.

“Yes, we are contesting all the three seats in the Valley,” NC’s provincial president Nasir Aslam Wani told The Indian Express on Tuesday. “We have had consultations with the Congress after which we have decided it.” Asked if there were any consultations with the Peoples Democratic Party, Wani said they were talking “only with the Congress”.

Sources said the Congress wanted the NC to contest Srinagar and Baramulla and leave Anantnag for PDP president Mehbooba Mufti. The Congress had even offered the Ladakh Lok Sabha seat to the NC. But the Farooq Abdulla-led party was adamant about contesting all three Valley seats, citing its 2019 winning record. It currently holds all three constituencies.

Sources in the Congress said while the party would support NC candidates in Baramulla and Srinagar, it would most likely support Mufti if she decides to contest from Anantnag, a seat she has represented in the past, just like her father and PDP founder Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.

While Wani said the NC had yet to decide on candidates for the three Valley seats, sources in the party said the party plans to field its vice president Omar Abdullah from Srinagar, Shia leader Aga Roohullah from Baramulla, and