Will campaign in J&K if local SP unit wants, says Akhilesh

Lucknow: Speaking for the first time on 2024 assembly polls in Jammu & Kashmir slated to begin later this month, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday said he will campaign for party candidates if the state unit wants him to.
"Contesting elections in J&K is important for the party as these are the first elections after the abrogation of Article 370. At the same time, it is also a step towards securing a national party status which is easier to achieve by contesting elections in smaller states," he said.
One of the criteria for national party status is that a party must receive at least 6% of the votes cast in four or more states in assembly (or Lok Sabha) elections and have at least four Lok Sabha members.SP has 37 Lok Sabha members.
SP's J&K state president Jai Lal Verma had announced that the party will contest the assembly election with particular focus on Jammu.
He had said the SP will support the Congress and National Conference (NC) alliance in these elections. All three are partners of the INDIA bloc – an alliance of opposition parties at the national level.
The assembly polls for the 90-member J&K assembly are scheduled to be held in three phases on Sept 18, 25 and Oct 1. Results are expected to be declared on Oct 4.
This will be the first assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir since the erstwhile state was stripped of Article 370 that granted special status and bifurcated into two Union Territories -- Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh in 2019.
As per the seat-sharing agreement in place, the NC will contest 51 out of 90 seats while Congress will contest 32 seats. The two parties will have a "friendly contest" on five seats and have left one seat each for CPI(M) and Panthers Party.