Srinagar, September 16: Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) candidate from Pulwama Assembly seat, Mohammad Iqbal Sofi, on Monday joined National Conference in the presence of National Conference leader Omar Abdullah. After joining NC, Mohammad Iqbal Sofi urged the people to support the NC-Congress alliance in the assembly polls.

"I was contesting candidate of AIP from Pulwama. I received this information that AIP is forming an alliance with Jamaat-e-Islami (JEI). Voting will be conducted on September 18 and yesterday, we got this news suddenly through social media...I believe that NC will win all the seats...I cannot withdraw my candidature so I request everyone to support the candidate of the NC-Congress alliance," Sofi said. Sofi also praised the National Conference. Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Elections 2024: From Omar Abdullah in Budgam and Ganderbal to Ravinder Raina in Nowshera, List of Key Candidates and Constituencies.

Omar Abdullah said that the reality of AIP chief Engineer Rashid is coming out in front of the people. "It is good that the reality of Engineer Rashid and his party is coming out in front of the people. The person who joined NC today was a candidate from AIP. But Engineer Rashid left his candidates and supported someone else...Here are two candidates, from Pulwama and Kulgam, who were ditched by Engineer Rashid at the end moment."

Earlier, Omar Abdullah said that he is hoping that a good portion of the votes will go to the National Conference candidates. "We are hoping that when the voting takes place the day after tomorrow, a good portion of the votes will go to the National Conference candidates, and they will be successful here," he said. Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Elections 2024 Phase 1 Polling: From Voting Date to List of Constituencies Going to Polls and Key Candidate, Here’s All You Need To Know.

Referring to Sheikh Abdul Rashid, commonly referred as Engineer Rashid, Omar Abdullah said his strings "are connected somewhere else". "He gets the signal from somewhere else. They dance on that signal. It is obvious that they have been fielded to target the National Conference. There is no problem, we can face it."

Last week, a special NIA court in Delhi granted bail to Rashid, MP, who is an accused in the terror funding case, and allowed him to campaign in the upcoming Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections. Elections in Jammu and Kashmir will be held on September 18, September 25, and October 1. Votes will be counted on October 8. These are the first assembly polls to be held in Kashmir since the abrogation of Article 370.

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