Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi will visit Jammu and Kashmir on September 23 to address election rallies in support of Congress and alliance candidates for the upcoming assembly elections.


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Rahul is scheduled to arrive in the Surankote area of Poonch around 11 a.m. and will address a public rally in support of Congress candidate Shahnawaz Choudhary, who is the All India Congress Committee (AICC) secretary and co-in-charge of Odisha. He is the joint candidate of the Congress and National Conference.


With the BJP-led NDA government at the center granting Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to the Pahari people, enabling them to contest ST-reserved seats, the Surankote Assembly constituency is witnessing a major contest between the Congress's Gujjar candidate and the BJP's Pahari candidate.


Gandhi will fly from Surankote to Srinagar, where he will address another rally in the Shalteng area, seeking votes for JKPCI president Tariq Hamid Qarra. Dr. Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah, who are Congress alliance partners in Jammu and Kashmir, have also been invited to the rally. Rahul is expected to reach the venue around 1:30 p.m.


Earlier, Rahul addressed two rallies in Jammu and Kashmir, one in the Sangaldan area of Banihal and another in the Dooru area of South Kashmir, for the first phase of elections.


With the assembly elections being held in Jammu and Kashmir after a gap of 10 years, both BJP and Congress leaders have been actively campaigning in the Union Territory. The Prime Minister himself has visited twice, addressing three rallies.


Tomorrow marks the final day of campaigning for the second phase of the assembly elections, in which voters in two districts of Jammu—Rajouri and Poonch—and three districts of Kashmir—Srinagar, Budgam, and Ganderbal—will head to the polls.