Srinagar, Aug 16: National Conference (NC) Vice President and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Friday said that his party was ready for the Assembly election and was waiting for the day for the announcement of poll schedule.

Reacting to the announcement by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar on the poll schedule in Jammu and Kashmir where the election will be held in three phases on September 18, 25 and October 1, Omar said “this is for the first time since 1987-88 that the election in Jammu and Kashmir was announced in a very short period and in a few phases”.

However, he said that his National Conference was ready for the Assembly election and were looking forward for the polling day.

“It would be a new experience for the political parties of Jammu and Kashmir to finalise their candidates in a short period of time”, he opined.

He said after 2018 there was no people’s government in Jammu and Kashmir and we bear the brunt of that also.

Of late, the ECI announced the election in three phases and the people of Jammu and Kashmir were waiting for it for a long period.

The NC Vice President said “if we were prepared to hold elections in 1996, 1998, 1999, 2002, at least today we accept that there is a huge difference in situation between 1996 and 2024 for holding the elections in Jammu and Kashmir”.

“If we were prepared to hold elections during that period today there would not be any problem in holding the elections in Jammu and Kashmir”, Omar said.

He said that the Election Commission has to take note of fear among the party about providing security to the contestants.

In reply to a question, Omar said that “we are in no way ready to move back on the pretext of the prevailing situation”.

The former CM said that “we are going to speed up our electioneering campaign right from today”.

He said that CEC stressed upon the holding of free and fair elections and to provide adequate security to the candidates during his press conference in New Delhi today.

“I urge the CEC, and going to write a letter to him today, regarding the unprecedented transfer of state administration officers during the past 24 hours in Jammu and Kashmir,” Omar said.

Asked from where he is going to contest elections, Omar said that “as far as the concern of my contesting election is..I still don’t want to contest.

He said there is a huge pressure from the party and I am going to talk to my party leaders and in the coming days we will likely take a decision”.

The NC Vice President said that for me there is a pressure from my father Farooq Abdullah, whose health is not remaining stable to contest election or he will be forced to be in fray.

Regarding alliance with any party, Omar said that there was an INDI alliance.

He said a few days back some senior leaders of Congress came from Delhi and had a first round of talks with me regarding whether we could forge an alliance to contest election together or not.

“But unfortunately they had come here without taking any order from the high command, that is why we could not move forward with the dialogue”, Omar said.

“If today congress has any concrete suggestions or ideas for which we could sit together, we are ready to talk to them”, he said.

The former CM said two days back National Conference President Farooq Abdullah had a telephonic

conversation with some senior congress leaders to open a way for the dialogue on the election.

“The election is now nearer and there is little time to remain..let us see what we could do”, he said and added “it would be very difficult to forge an alliance with those parties who fought the Lok Sabha Election against us”.

UNI