The Congress on Tuesday said that party president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi will be on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir starting 21st August, days after the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the schedule for the Assembly polls in the Union Territory.

During their visit, they will hold important meetings in preparation for the forthcoming polls.

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Congress general secretary in-charge of Organisation KC Venugopal in a post on X wrote, “On 21st and 22nd August, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge ji and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi ji will be visiting Jammu and Srinagar for key meetings in preparation for the upcoming assembly elections.”

The announcement of the Congress came a day after Kharge and Gandhi held an important meeting with the general secretaries, in-charges and Screening Committee members of the election-going states — Haryana, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

On Friday, the poll panel announced that Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir will be held in three phases with first phase voting on 18th September, second phase on 25th September and third phase on 1st October.

Counting of votes will take place on 4th October.

Notably, in December last, the Supreme Court had ordered the Commission to hold Assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir by 30th September, 2024, while pronouncing the judgement in the cases concerning the abrogation of Article 370.

This is the first Assembly elections in J&K after the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019.