NC to contest all six seats in J-K, Farooq Abdullah to be fielded from Srinagar- Budgam seat

National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah will be contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from Srinagar-Budgam parliamentary constituency in Jammu and Kashmir, a party spokesperson said on Monday. The decision was made unanimously by all the party members at the Parliamentary board meet in Srinagar this evening.

The party has also decided to field senior leader and former speaker Muhammad Akbar Lone from Baramulla Parliamentary Seat in Jammu and Kashmir. The parliamentary board members were also unanimously of the opinion that the party should contest at all the six parliamentary constituencies.

However, the names of the candidates for other Lok Sabha constituencies will be finalised in the next meeting.

The crucial board meet, which took place at party head quarters Nawa- e -Subha, Srinagar, was chaired by Abdullah himself. In what could be seen as a possible opportunity for a tie-up, the board has authourised the president to take a call on coalition with secular forces taking into account the "national political" situation.

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Meanwhile, representatives of various political parties have been reiterating the demand for holding Assembly elections and Lok Sabha polls simultaneously in Jammu and Kashmir.

While announcing the Lok Sabha elections schedule on March 10, the poll panel said that the Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir cannot be held simultaneously due to security concerns flagged by the Centre.

Since the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly has been dissolved in December last year, the Election Commision is bound to hold fresh polls there as well within a six-month period, which will end in May. The state has been under President's rule since December 19, 2018, which was necessitated following a spat in the ruling PDP-BJP coalition.

The seven-phase Lok Sabha Election is scheduled to take place between April 11 and May 19 while the counting of votes will be held on May 23.