An eagerly-awaited election in J&K
Jammu and Kashmir is set to face its first Assembly elections to be held in 10 years, and six years after it had its last representative government. About 280 candidates filed their nomination papers on Tuesday, the last day for filing them, for 24 Assembly segments in the first phase of elections on September 18. They started campaigning on Wednesday. The large number of candidates and the number of people who turned up at the time of nominations are proof of the popular enthusiasm for the elections. The elections are now being held in a new environment. J&K was a full-fledged state in 2018 when Mehbooba Mufti’s PDP (Peoples’ Democratic Party) government collapsed after the BJP withdrew support to it. It is now a Union Territory, a change of status that was effected along with the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019. There is no sure sign of restoration of statehood any time soon.
The elections are being held now because the Supreme Court had set September 30 as the deadline for the Election Commission to hold them. The democratic exercise should do good to the state which will now have an elected government, though many of its powers have been whittled down. It is a good sign that the state’s political parties have taken the elections seriously and are actively participating in the election process. All the important parties in the state, including the two national parties — the Congress and the BJP — and the main regional parties — the National Conference (NC) and the PDP — are in the fray. Smaller parties such as former Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad’s Democratic Progressive Azad Party are also contesting. Many independents, including ex-militants and members of banned organisations, have also filed their nominations. There is no boycott call.
The battlelines have also become clear. The National Conference (NC) and the Congress, who are members of the I.N.D.I.A bloc, have reached a seat-sharing arrangement. The NC will contest 51 seats, the Congress 32, and the CPM and the J&K Panthers Party one each. There will be “friendly contests” in five seats. NC leader Omar Abdullah had said that he would not contest the election, but is now reported to be contesting for the Ganderbal seat. Both the BJP and the PDP are going it alone. The BJP withdrew its first list of candidates soon after its release and reissued it in the face of protests and objections from within the party over ticket distribution. Considering the present positions of parties, there will be triangular contests in many seats. Terrorist activities have shifted to the Jammu region in recent weeks and months. The Election Commission, parties, and the candidates will have to take that into consideration in the coming days.