Samajwadi Party to contest J-K Assembly Elections; extends support of Congress, NC alliance

Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], August 28 (ANI): Jammu and Kashmir Samajwadi Party President Jia Lal Verma on Wednesday informed that the party will contest the upcoming J-K Assembly polls and is likely to file their nominations in the second or third phase.
The SP leader also said that the party will support the Congress and National Conference alliance in the J-K polls.
The assembly polls are being held in three phases on September 18, 25 and October 1.
National Conference (NC) will contest 51 of 90 seats and Congress 32 according to the seat-sharing pact reached by the two parties for the assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir. The two parties will also have a "friendly contest" on five seats.
The two parties have left one seat each for CPI(M) and Panthers Party.
Meanwhile, as many as 279 candidates have filed their nomination papers across 24 Assembly Constituencies of seven districts of Jammu and Kashmir which are going to the polling in the first phase of the J-K Assembly Election 2024.
August 27 was the last day to file nomination papers for the first phase of the Assembly Election scheduled to be held on September 18, 2024.
A statement from the office of the Chief Electoral Officer detailed the candidates who have filed their nominations.
A total of 72 candidates have filed their nominations in Anantnag district, followed by 55 in Pulwama district, 41 in Doda district, 32 in Kishtwar district, 28 in Shopian district, 28 in Kulgam district, while 23 candidates have filed nominations in Ramban district.
In Jammu division, for the three ACs in Kishtwar district, a total of 13 candidates have filed nominations from 48-Inderwal AC; 11 candidates have filed nominations from 49-Kishtwar AC; while 8 candidates have filed nominations from 50-Padder-Nagseni AC.
In the three ACs in the Doda district, 16 candidates have filed nominations from 51-Bhadarwah AC; 16 candidates have filed nominations from 52-Doda AC; while 9 candidates have filed nominations from 53-Doda West AC.
For the two ACs in the Ramban district, a total of 13 candidates have filed nominations from 54 Ramban AC; while 10 candidates have filed nominations from 55-Banihal AC.
In Kashmir division, for the four ACs in Pulwama district, 16 candidates have filed nominations from 32-Pampore AC; 13 candidates have filed nominations from 33-Tral AC; 14 candidates have filed nominations from 34-Pulwama AC; while 12 candidates have filed nominations from 35-Rajpora AC.
A total of 15 candidates have filed nominations from 36-Zainapora AC; while 13 candidates have filed nominations from 37-Shopian AC in the Shopian district.
It may be mentioned that more than 23.27 lakh voters including 5.66 lakh youths are eligible to exercise their electoral franchise during the Phase-I of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Election, scheduled to be held on 18 September 2024, of which 11.76 lakh are male voters and 11.51 lakh female voters along with 60 Third Gender Electors.
Notably, the 2024 Lok Sabha elections witnessed a 25 per cent rise in the number of candidates compared to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.(ANI)