National Conference leader Omar Abdullah will contest the Lok Sabha elections from Jammu and Kashmir’s Baramulla constituency, party chief Farooq Abdullah announced on Friday.

Farooq Abdullah also said that National Conference leader Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi will fight the general election from the Srinagar constituency.

Omar Abdullah, a former chief minister, said at a press conference after the announcement that his party’s fight was not against an individual.

“It has been decided that I will be contesting from North Kashmir [Baramulla constituency] because the BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party] is focusing a lot on North Kashmir,” he said. “In North Kashmir, my fight is not against any candidate, my fight is with those powers that are behind that candidate.”

Omar Abdullah said that he wants “these powers” to be defeated in North Kashmir.

The National Conference is contesting the Lok Sabha polls in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh in alliance with the Congress. Both parties are part of the Opposition INDIA bloc, which is taking on the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance.

The National Conference is contesting all three Lok Sabha constituencies in the Kashmir region: Anantnag-Rajouri, Srinagar and Baramulla. The Congress will field its candidates from the two seats in the Jammu region – Udhampur and Jammu – as well as the lone seat in Ladakh.

Polling in Jammu and Kashmir will take place in the first five phases between April 19 and May 20. The counting of votes will take place on June 4.

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that Assembly elections will be held in Jammu and Kashmir and the statehood of the Union territory will be restored soon. Modi made the comments while campaigning for BJP’s Lok Sabha candidate Jitendra Singh in Udhampur.

Responding to Modi’s remarks, Omar Abdullah said that the prime minister will not be doing the region any favours by restoring its statehood since he is bound to do so by a Supreme Court order.