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| Cong’s decision not to contest Nagrota bypoll sparks unease in coalition | | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Oct 20: The Congress high command’s decision not to contest the Nagrota Assembly by-election has triggered unease within the party ranks and raised questions about the health of its alliance with the National Conference (NC).
As earlier reported by The Early Times, the local Congress leadership was prepared to contest the Nagrota bypoll with the NC’s support. However, the party’s central leadership decided to stay away from the contest, leaving both the Nagrota and Budgam Assembly seats for the National Conference.
“It is too early to say anything at this point. The central leadership is occupied with the Bihar elections, and clarity will emerge only after the Bihar poll,” a senior Congress leader told The Early Times.
In a late-night development on Sunday, the Congress formally announced its decision to leave the two Assembly seats for its ally. “The Indian National Congress has decided to leave the Nagrota Assembly seat to its ally, the National Conference, keeping in view the larger interests and common goal of defeating the BJP,” said J&K Congress chief spokesperson Ravinder Sharma in an official statement.
The statement further noted that the decision followed detailed deliberations within the party. “After reviewing the report of the JKPCC and considering various factors—including the fact that in the 2024 Assembly elections, contested on a friendly basis between Congress and NC, the National Conference had secured the second position in Nagrota—the central leadership of the INC decided to leave the seat to its ally in the spirit of coalition cooperation and the broader objective of defeating the BJP,” it added.
After Congress decided not to contest byelections, the National Conference announced DDC member Shamim Begum as party candidate on this seat.
The by-elections in Nagrota and Budgam were necessitated following the resignation of sitting MLAs from these constituencies after their election to Parliament earlier this year. Both seats had fallen vacant as a result, prompting the Election Commission to announce bypolls to fill the vacancies.
The National Conference has already announced Agha Syed Mehmood as its candidate for the Budgam seat. |
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