NC fields Omar from Ganderbal & PDP Iltija Mufti from Bijbehara

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

NC) on Tuesday released a second list of candidates for the upcoming assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir, which included the name of former chief minister Omar Abdullah as its candidate from Ganderbal constituency in central Kashmir.

After his release from a year-long detention in 2020, following abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019, Abdullah had claimed that he won't contest elections unless statehood was restored to J&K. However, when the assembly election was announced recently, his father Farooq Abdullah and other party members started stressing on the importance of Omar contesting the polls.

Abdullah, too, in his recent press interactions, said that «not fighting the elections could be a mistake». He was also quoted as saying, «It won't be right to seek votes when I won't be contesting the elections.»

The NC and the Congress have entered into a pre-poll seat-sharing, as per which the NC will contest 51 seats and the Congress 32 seats, while two seats have been left for the CPI(M) and Panthers Party, and there will be a friendly contest on five seats. The NC has announced candidates from 50 constituencies so far.

From People's Democratic Party, Iltija Mufti, daughter of party chief Mehbooba Mufti, filed her nomination papers from Bijbehara constituency, which is also her native area. Mehbooba Mufti, a former CM, has maintained that she won't be contesting the assembly election.