Former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir and President of JK National Conference Farooq Abdullah has announced that his party will contest the upcoming assembly elections in alliance with Congress. He said that Congress and National Conference will contest the assembly elections together. The alliance will be officially announced in the evening.
The process of assembly elections started in Jammu and Kashmir from August 20. Notification for the first phase of voting has been issued. The last date for filing nominations has been fixed as August 27. After a long wait of 10 years, assembly elections are being held in Jammu and Kashmir. Voting for the first phase is to be held on September 18. In which voting will take place in 24 assembly constituencies.
Candidates may be announced in a day or two
Voting is to be held on 24 seats in the first phase of polling on September 18. Out of these, 16 seats are from Kashmir Valley, while 8 seats are from Jammu region. The party can announce its candidates in a day or two. The result of the three-phase assembly elections for 90 seats will be declared on October 4.
The last assembly elections were held in 2014
This will be the first assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir after 2014. In 2014, votes were cast for 87 assembly seats in the state. Then the People’s Democratic Party emerged as the largest party by winning 28 seats. At the same time, BJP won 25 seats. National Conference won 15 seats and Congress won 12 seats.
In the election results, no party could reach the magic figure of 44 seats required for a majority. After the announcement of the election results, the first and second ranked parties PDP and BJP formed a coalition government under the leadership of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.
What are the challenges before BJP?
A big challenge for BJP in Jammu and Kashmir is the local parties and Congress, which have a better presence at the local level than BJP. Congress plans to restrict BJP to 20 seats in Jammu division so that it can join the government with local parties in the assembly.
There have been many protests against the BJP at the local level. However, this has changed in recent months, with many local leaders taking up the party’s flag. If the Congress manages to win some seats in the Jammu division, the BJP’s dream of forming a government may be shattered.