Rahul Gandhi to address two poll rallies in J&K on Monday

Srinagar, Sep 22 (IANS): Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi will visit J&K on Monday and address two election rallies ahead of the second phase of the Assembly polls.

Rahul Gandhi will address two campaign rallies, one in the Jammu division and the other in the Valley.

Sources said the LoP will first arrive in Srinagar on Monday morning in a special chartered flight and then will take a helicopter to fly to Surankote from Srinagar.

They added that he will address a Congress campaign rally in the Surankote constituency of Rajouri district at 12.30 pm on Monday. Then he will fly back in the helicopter to Srinagar.

“He will address a party campaign rally in the central Shalteng constituency of Srinagar district in the afternoon. JKPCC chief, Tariq Hamid Karra is fighting the election from this Assembly constituency. He will then leave for New Delhi in the special chartered flight in the evening,” Congress sources told IANS.

National Conference (NC) and Congress have entered into a pre-poll alliance in J&K. As per the terms of the agreement between the two parties, NC will contest 52 seats while Congress will contest 31 seats.

The two parties have left two seats uncontested, one in the Valley for CPI-M and the other in the Jammu division for the Panthers Party.

The NC-Congress pre-poll alliance could not reach a consensus on five seats of Banihal, Nagrota, Kishtwar and Doda in Jammu division and Sopore in the Valley.

The two parties have fielded candidates in these constituencies who will engage in a friendly contest at these five constituencies.

Voting for the second phase of the J&K assembly election will take place on September 25 and for the third Ab’s last phase on October 1. Counting will take place on October 8.