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National Conference (NC) vice-president Omar Abdullah said it was for the first time that he saw the BJP removing a list within 10 minutes of releasing it. The former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister suggested the saffron party should focus on setting its house in order.
“The BJP should focus on setting its house in order…For the first time I saw the BJP removing a list within 10 minutes of releasing it. Chairs were broken in their offices today,” Abdullah said.
Abdullah’s remarks came after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) withdrew its first list of 44 candidates for the upcoming assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir on Monday due to a reported rift within the party. Later, the BJP released two lists, one containing 15 names and the other containing one candidate for the first phase of elections in the Union Territory scheduled to be held on September 18.
Voting is being held on 24 seats in the first phase. The other two phases of polling are scheduled on September 25 and October 1. Counting of votes will take place on October 4.
The National Conference is contesting the assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir in alliance with the Congress party.
A multi-cornered contest is expected on most seats in Jammu and Kashmir. This is the first assembly election after the abrogation of Article 370.
There are a total of 90 assembly constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir, out of which 7 seats are reserved for Scheduled Castes and 9 seats are reserved for Scheduled Tribes.
In the 2014 assembly elections, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) emerged as the largest party with 28 seats. All the seats won by the PDP were from the Kashmir Valley. The BJP came second with 25 seats. All the seats won by the BJP were from Jammu.
The PDP led by Mufti Mohammad Sayeed decided to form an unprecedented alliance with the BJP, a party with completely different ideologies.
However, the PDP-BJP government could not last the full six-year term as the BJP withdrew its support to the former PDP in 2018. Since then, the erstwhile state has been under central rule.
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