Srinagar: After the Congress declined the offer to contest the Nagrota Assembly seat, the National Conference (NC) on Monday announced District Development Council (DDC) member Shamim Begum as its candidate for the constituency.
NC’s Provincial President for Jammu, Rattan Lal Gupta, said the party leadership had finalised Begum’s name after Congress opted out of the contest.
“The party high command has cleared her candidature, and she will soon file her nomination papers,” Gupta said.
Shamim Begum, a Muslim Gujjar and DDC member from Nagrota, had won the 2020 local body elections from the area.
The Congress’s decision to withdraw from the Nagrota seat comes amid growing strains between the two alliance partners in Jammu and Kashmir. The party said it had chosen to leave the seat to its ally, the National Conference, in the “larger interest of defeating the BJP.”
In a late-night statement, Congress said the decision followed “detailed deliberations” based on a report from the Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee.
“The central leadership, after considering various factors — including that in the 2024 Assembly elections, contested on a friendly basis between the two parties, the NC had secured second place in Nagrota — has decided to leave the seat to its ally in keeping with the broader goal of defeating the BJP,” the statement read.
Relations between the NC and Congress have soured in recent weeks after the NC reportedly refused to allocate a “safe” Rajya Sabha seat to Congress in the upcoming October 24 elections. The NC had offered the party a fourth, less secure seat, which Congress declined.
Party leaders in both Jammu and Kashmir and New Delhi are said to be upset over what they described as the NC’s “failure to honour its commitment” regarding the Rajya Sabha arrangement.
