Farooq, Omar Abdullah not to contest polls till J&K remains a Union Territory

• The NC has appointed the head of the 47 assembly constituencies in Kashmir Valley
• This new arrangement does not necessarily mean that the in-charges will be candidates because elections have not been announced: Omar Abdullah
• NC is open to the alliance in Jammu as the party has not nominated constituency in-charges here, but it has closed doors for any alliance in Kashmir.

National Conference leaders and former chief ministers of Jammu and Kashmir, Farooq Abdullah and his son Omar Abdullah, will not contest the upcoming election till the erstwhile state remains a Union Territory.

However, the NC has appointed the head of the 47 assembly constituencies in Kashmir Valley, setting speculations that the nominees are the party’s candidates for the polls which are yet to be announced. The party president and vice presidents, Farooq Abdullah and Vice President Omar Abdullah respectively, are consistent with their political stand.

The Union government had stripped away the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and its statehood on August 5, 2019, triggering massive outrage even as top leaders of the region were detained for months.  After his release in 2020, Omar Abdullah had said he would not contest assembly elections till J&K remains a Union Territory.

Omar Abdullah, however, was quoted by Outlook as saying: “This new arrangement does not necessarily mean that the in-charges will be candidates because elections have not been announced. This is an internal arrangement.”

The list of 47 Constituency Incharges of the Valley was approved by NC president Dr Farooq Abdullah and released to the media by NC’s General Secretary Ali Mohammad Sagar, according to an Outlook report. Sagar also asked the office bearers in constituencies to coordinate with their respective Constituency In-charges and ensure full support to them, a party spokesperson said, according to the release. “The order also enjoined respective Incharges to remain in regular touch with the public, party workers, and block and Halqa office bearers for making the party stronger at the grassroots level,” Sagar said.

However, the party is reportedly open to the alliance in Jammu as the party has not nominated constituency in-charges here, but it has closed doors for any alliance in Kashmir.

In March this year, Home Minister Amit Shah said J&K assembly elections will be held once the delimitation exercise is over and after consultation with political parties. “We have no interest in keeping Jammu and Kashmir under President’s Rule,” Shah said in Lok Sabha while responding to concerns raised by members on Kashmir during the discussion.

However, the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Alliance (PAGD) see this as a message from NC to its internal party elements that this is how the party will proceed whenever elections are held, reported the Outlook.

The PAGD was created on October 20, 2020, after six top political parties – National Conference, Peoples Democratic Party, CPI(M), Awami National Conference, Peoples’ Conference and Peoples’ Movement – joined together to struggle “peacefully and politically” for the restoration of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.

The PAGD chairman and senior CPI (M) leader, Mohammad Yousuf Taragami, had said: “The PAGD It was beyond the polls. The DDC polls were thrust upon the PAGD and it accepted the challenge. Our critics don’t realise that our mandate is beyond DDC polls.” PAGD received a jolt in January last year with its spokesman Sajad Lone deciding to withdraw his Peoples’ Conference from the group.

The alliance pushed the BJP to the margins in J&K in the district development polls held in November-December 2020. It fought the DDC polls jointly on individual party symbols and won an impressive 110 seats of the total 280 constituencies. The BJP was expecting to sweep the polls but could not move beyond the Hindu heartland of the Jammu, Kathua, Udampure, and Samba districts, reported the news outlet.

The governor’s rule was imposed in J&K in June 2018 after the BJP pulled out of the Mehbooba Mufti-led PDP-BJP coalition government.

The BJP leaders have been saying the elections in J&K will be held after the Delimitation Commission completes its exercise and gives its report, according to the report. On May 6 this year, the Delimitation Commission finalised its two-year-long exercises. It recommended the creation of six additional assembly constituencies in the Jammu region and one more in the Kashmir Valley.