Congress bows out, leaving Nagrota seat to NC; Shamim Begum files papers

Jammu: The Jammu & Kashmir National Conference announced that Shamim Begum, a District Development Council member, will contest the Nagrota Assembly seat after the Congress decided not to field a candidate, citing the “larger interest of defeating the BJP.”

NC Provincial President for Jammu, Rattan Lal Gupta, said the party high command had cleared her nomination, which will be filed soon. Begum, a Muslim Gujjar woman, had earlier won the 2020 DDC elections from Nagrota.

The Congress decision followed consultations with its central leadership and the J&K Pradesh Congress Committee, taking into account factors such as the NC’s second-place finish in Nagrota during the 2024 Assembly polls.

The party described the move as part of the coalition’s broader strategy to defeat the BJP.

However, the decision comes amid growing tensions between the allies, after the NC refused to allocate a “safe” seat to Congress in the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections on October 24, instead offering a fourth, relatively riskier seat, which Congress declined.