Rahul To Kick Off Congress Campaign For J&K Assembly Elections With 2 Rallies Today

Rahul Gandhi is kicking off the Congress party's J&K election campaign on Wednesday with two rallies in the union territory. He'll be addressing one rally each in Jammu and Kashmir for the first phase of the Assembly elections. Gandhi's day starts with a 10 a.m. landing at Jammu airport, where he'll hop on a helicopter to Sangaldan in Ramban district. There, he'll rally support for Congress candidate Vikar Rasool Wani at 11 a.m. This constituency is a key one, as Congress and the National Conference (NC) couldn't agree on seat-sharing, so both parties are running candidates.

Joining Gandhi on the campaign trail are party general secretary Bharatsinh Solanki and state Congress president Tariq Hameed Karra. After Sangaldan, Gandhi heads to the Dooru Assembly constituency in Anantnag district, where he'll support party candidate G.A.Mir at 12:30 p.m.

These rallies mark the beginning of the Congress party's campaign in J&K, with more star campaigners like Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra joining the fray later. Three former JKPCC presidents are also running in the first phase of elections, which takes place on September 18.

The Congress and NC have formed a pre-poll alliance, with the NC contesting 52 seats and Congress contesting 31. However, they'll go head-to-head in five seats, including Nagrota, Bhaderwah, Banihal, and Doda in Jammu, and Sopore in Kashmir.