Srinagar, Sept 2: Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee president Tariq Karra would contest the assembly polls from Srinagar’s Central-Shalteng seat.

The Congress, which has formed a pre-poll alliance with the National Conference for the J&K Assembly polls being held after a decade, on Monday announced names of six candidates including that of Karra for the second phase of polls in J&K.

As per the agreement, the NC will be contesting from 51 seats and the Congress on 32 while there will be a friendly contest on five seats. Another two seats have been left to accommodate the CPI(M) and the Panthers Party.

AICC General Secretary K C Venugopal announced the names of the six party candidates including Karra.

The five other candidates are Mumtaz Khan from Reasi, Bhupendra Jamwal from Shri Mata Vaishno Devi, Iftikhar Ahmad from Rajouri (ST), Shabir Ahmad Khan from Thanamandi (ST) and Muhammad Shahnawaz Choudhary from Surankote (ST).

In the second phase of polls, 26 Assembly constituencies in the districts of Ganderbal, Srinagar, Budgam, Reasi, Rajouri and Poonch shall go to polls on September 25.

69-year-old Karra was appointed as the President of the J&K Congress Committee last month.

A founder member of Peoples Democratic Party, Karra was the finance minister of the erstwhile state during the PDP-Congress coalition government. Karra was elected to the Legislative Assembly from the Batamalloo constituency of Srinagar in by-elections held in October 2004.

He defeated Farooq Abdullah from the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat in 2014, giving Abdullah the taste of his first ever electoral defeat in four decades.

Karra, however, resigned from the Lok Sabha and PDP in 2016 in protest against “civilian killings”.

He later joined Congress in February 2017.

Meanwhile, the Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) headed by jailed Member of Parliament (MP) Abdul Rashid Sheikh aka Engineer Rashid, on Monday announced that former legislator Yasir Rishi who joined the party today would be their candidate from Sonawari Bandipora.

The party announced names of 10 candidates including that of Rishi for the upcoming polls.

The candidates are Shoib Lone from Baramulla,Naseer Ahmed Rather from Wagoora Kreeri, Sheikh Ashiq from Ganderbal, Prince Parvaiz from Bandipora, advocate Raja Ashraf Ali Khan from Kangan, Muhammad Maqbool Beigh from Hazratbal, Istiyaq Qadri from Habba Kadal, advocate Javaid Ahmad Hubbi from Chrar-e-Sharief and advocate Dawood Ahmed from Lolab.

UNI