Kharge, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka on the Congress list of Star Campaigner

New Delhi: The star candidates nominated by the party for the Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections include Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, former party leaders Sonia and Rahul Gandhi and AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

Congress general secretaries Jairam Ramesh, KC Venugopal, Sachin Pilot and Ghulam Ahmad Mir, and Himachal Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and his deputy Mukesh Agnihotri are also on the list submitted by the Congress to the Election Commission for the second phase of the three-phase elections.

The 40 top politicians on the Congress list also include Jammu and Kashmir Congress leader Tariq Hamid Karra, former J&K Congress leader Vikar Rasool Wani and senior politicians Salman Khurshid, Ajay Maken, Syed Naseer Hussain, Rajani Patil, Rajiv Shukla and Manish Tewari.

Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday launched his party's election campaign in Jammu and Kashmir, saying that restoring statehood to Jammu and Kashmir would be the Indian bloc's first decision when it comes to assuming power in the central government if the Modi government fails to achieve this after the general elections.

Addressing rallies in the parliamentary quarters of Dooru and Banihal, Gandhi claimed that the centrally appointed Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir was behaving like a “21st century king” and that all the benefits were going to people “outside” the Union Territory.

The list of star candidates for the second phase of the election also includes Congress Media and Publicity Department head Pawan Khera, Social Media Department head Supriya Shrinate, Amethi MP Kishorilal Sharma, NSUI chief Kanhaiya Kumar and Indian Youth Congress leader Srinivas BV.

Elections in the 90-member Jammu and Kashmir Assembly will be held in three phases on September 18, September 25 and October 1. Counting of votes will begin on October 8.

(This story was published as part of the auto-generated Syndicate Wire feed. Aside from the headline, no changes were made to the text written by ABP Live.)