Kargil/Jammu, Jul 18 (PTI) The Congress and the National Conference on Tuesday announced a pre-poll alliance for the election to the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC), Kargil.

The election to the 30-seat council, currently headed by NC leader Feroz Ahmad Khan, is likely to be held in September. The five-year term of the council will end in October.

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Leaders of the Congress and the NC announced the alliance at a joint press conference in Kargil and said the decision was taken to keep the BJP-RSS at bay.

"Time has come for secular parties to stand united against the BJP and like-minded parties to safeguard the Constitution and democracy," working president of the Ladakh unit of the Congress, Asghar Ali Karbalai, said.

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He said both the parties will work together in the upcoming election and "we will not provide any opportunity to the BJP to have a platform in Kargil".

The parties have agreed on 50:50 seat sharing in the council, he said, adding no independent candidate will be given support.

NC provincial president, Ladakh, Qamar Ali Akhoon said the two parties have held wide ranging discussions before deciding to fight the elections together.

"We have reached an agreement after a series of meetings that we will be together before and after the election, nobody will fight the election without a mandate and desist from making any remarks against each other," he said.

Karbalai said barring a few pockets, the BJP has non-existent in Kargil.

"After the August 2019 development (when Jammu and Kashmir was bifurcated into two union territories and its special status was revoked), we have learnt a lot of lessons and the time demands us to come together to fight for our future," he said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)