BJP can contest elections on only 70 out of 90 seats in Jammu and Kashmir, know what is the party’s strategy

Assembly elections are due in Jammu and Kashmir. After the meeting of the Central Election Committee (CEC) of the Bharatiya Janata Party, sources told India Today that the party may contest around 60 to 70 seats in the upcoming three-phase elections for the 90-member Jammu and Kashmir Assembly. As expected, the BJP is going to contest the assembly elections after almost a decade without forming an alliance with any party.

Sources said that the top BJP leadership including Amit Shah and JP Nadda attended the meeting chaired by PM Modi. The party has also decided to withdraw the candidature of many prominent people from the Jammu region.

BJP will also support independent candidates

Instead, the party will support strong independent candidates in constituencies in the Kashmir Valley where it will not field its own candidates, sources said. In the last assembly elections held in 2014, the BJP and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) formed a coalition government with Mufti Mohammad Sayeed as the chief minister. After Sayeed’s death in January 2016, Mehbooba Mufti replaced her father after a brief period of governor’s rule.

In June 2018, the BJP walked out of the PDP-led coalition government, leading to the dissolution of the assembly by then governor Satya Pal Malik in November that year. Subsequently, assembly elections were not held in Jammu and Kashmir.

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Meanwhile, the National Conference (NC), BJP’s biggest rival in Jammu and Kashmir, has already formed an alliance with the Congress, contesting all 90 seats. However, which of the two parties will contest on how many seats has not been announced yet.

Sources had earlier said that the Congress had expressed its desire to contest 12 seats in the Kashmir Valley, while Farooq Abdullah’s party was offered the same number of seats in the Jammu division.

Assembly elections in three phases

Elections for the 90 assembly seats of Jammu and Kashmir will be held in three phases on September 18, September 25 and October 1. The results are expected to be announced on October 4. This will be the first assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir after the removal of Article 370 and division into union territories – Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

Since 2019, Jammu and Kashmir has been governed as a union territory, with major powers vested in the Lieutenant Governor. The current Governor of Jammu and Kashmir is Manoj Kumar Sinha.