The PDP and the National Conference (NC), both partners in the INDIA bloc in Jammu Kashmir and a part of the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) are set to lock horns against each other for the three Lok Sabha seats in the Kashmir valley.
This experts suggest will play in the hands of the Bhartiya Janta Party, who are yet to announce their candidate on the Lok Sabha seat of Anantnag-Rajouri, which is slated for polls on May 7.
Though the People’s Democratic Party has not announced its candidates yet, Sources told The Kashmiriyat that the party is likely to field Waheed u Rehman Parra or Mehbooba Mufti for the seat. “We will not contest Jammu, but the discussion regarding three Lok Sabha seats in Kashmir is underway. The decision will be shared with you all in two-three days,” Mehbooba Mufti told media persons on Wednesday.
During the press conference, Mehbooba Mufti, the presidents of the PDP, accused Omar Abdullah, the vice president of the NC, of leaving them with “no alternative”. Omar Abdullah countered,, “PDP was deviating from the agreement reached within the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) during the 2020 District Development Council (DDC) elections.”
When asked about the Congress’s role in resolving the dispute within the INDIA bloc, Bharatsinh Solanki, the party’s J-K in-charge, expressed regret that despite their efforts, differences persisted. Solanki emphasized the bloc’s objective of ousting the BJP from J-K and expressed confidence in achieving it with public support.
Mehbooba highlighted the necessity for unity among political parties in Jammu Kashmir post the revocation of the state’s special status in 2019. She criticized the NC’s “unilateral decision” to contest all three seats in Kashmir, expressing disappointment with their leadership.
Abdullah defended the NC’s decision, citing the PDP’s refusal to adhere to the agreed-upon formula for seat-sharing based on the 2019 parliamentary elections’ results. He suggested that if the PDP was contesting all seats, they might not be interested in an alliance for future assembly polls.
Experts suggest that this is heavily going to help the Bhartiya Janta Party.
“The trustworthiness of the Kashmiri-speaking linguistic group’s vote is questionable, as it tends to be fragmented. Historically, the Gujjar Bakerwal community has represented a robust voting bloc. However, the separation of the Pahari group from this minority bloc presents a challenge for all political parties,” an expert said.
He noted, “The Pahari vote bank seems poised to support the Bhartiya Janta Party decisively, while the Gujjar-Bakerwal votes are expected to be dispersed among PDP, NC, and Azad’s faction, so far.”