New Delhi:

With voting over in Haryana, it is now time to find out what the exit polls have predicted for the state as well as the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

It is a largely bipolar contest in Haryana and an important one both for the BJP, which is looking to form a government in the state for the third straight time and the Congress, which is hoping to make a comeback.

The BJP won only five of the state’s 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana after sweeping all of them in 2019 and these Assembly elections are an opportunity for the party to prove that it remains popular with voters after failing – for the first time in 10 years – to achieve a majority on its own in the general elections.

In the Lok Sabha elections, the other five constituencies in Haryana were won by the Congress, which believes it is in a strong position to form the government in the state this time.

The 2019 Assembly elections had seen the BJP winning 40 of the state’s 90 seats, the Congress 31 and the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) 10. The BJP had formed the government with the support of the JJP and Dushyant Chautala became the deputy chief minister. The alliance ended after the BJP replaced Manohar Lal Khattar with Nayab Singh Saini as the chief minister in March.

Jammu and Kashmir also has 90 seats and it voted in its first Assembly elections since 2014, first as a Union Territory and first after the removal of Article 370, which gave the erstwhile state special status. 

Statehood has been a major issue in the elections and its restoration has been promised by the BJP – including by PM Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah – as well as the Congress and the National Conference, which contested the polls in an alliance. 

Another major player is Mehbooba Mufti’s Peoples Democratic Party and other parties include Abdul Ghani Lone’s People’s Conference, Ghulam Nabi Azad’s Democratic Progressive Azad Party and Altaf Bukhari’s Apni Party. An interesting development in these elections was the entry of the banned Jamaat-e-Islami, which backed some candidates, and its strategic alliance with Engineer Rashid’s Awami Ittehad Party.

The counting of votes will be held on October 8.

New Delhi:

National Conference leader Omar Abdullah on Friday said it is a “good thing” that Jamaat-e-Islami leaders are participating in the upcoming Jammu and Kashmir elections but fired a salvo at the banned group. While welcoming their participation into active politics, the former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir said that they would have to explain to the people of the union territory “why so much blood was in their hands”.

“It’s a good thing they are participating. Everyone should participate but the question would be asked why the region suffered for almost 30-40 years and what was achieved by their actions,” Omar Abdullah told NDTV in an exclusive interview.

The National Conference never backed out from participating in elections or being part of the democratic process, he said.

“We suffered because we always spoke about having a relationship with India we never spoke that the issue of Jammu and Kashmir is beyond the Indian constitution. We believe in what (former PM Atal Bihari) Vajpayee Ji used to say – insaniyat (humanity), jamhuriyat (democracy) kashmiriyat (Kashmiri culture),” he added.

He also said people who “brought so much suffering” to the people, who always said Jammu and Kashmir is “not part of India” are now willing to contest Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections.

“But the question remains what did the blood bath achieve? So many houses got destroyed, and thousands of lives were lost. Our graveyards are full because of them,” Mr Abdullah said.

Although it would have been better if their ban would have been uplifted and they would have fought on their symbol, he added.

Jamaat cannot take part in the elections due to the ban imposed on it by the Union home ministry. It has not taken part in any elections after 1987.

On Article 370, J&K Elections

Speaking on the BJP’s charge that people came out in more numbers and participated in elections after the abrogation of Article 370, Omar Abdullah said that the two are not connected.

“Due to fear of guns, people were not participating in elections. Otherwise, all our elections before 1990 would not have been conducted. They were all successful,” he told NDTV.

“It’s not right to say that only after the abrogation of Article 370 people participated in elections. The only reason now that participation has increased is because now people with separatist mindset also want to contest elections,” he said.

Article 370, which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir, was abrogated by the Narendra Modi government on August 5, 2019, and the erstwhile state was bifurcated into two UTs – Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

Restoration of Article 370 and Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood are among the National Conference’s 12 guarantees announced in its manifesto for the upcoming polls.

Mr Abdullah also promised the people of Jammu and Kashmir that their identity and their dignity would be restored soon.

“We will restore statehood no matter what. If they do not give it with their blessing, we will go to the Supreme Court and will take it,” he said.

Assembly polls are being held in Jammu and Kashmir for the first time since the abrogation of Article 370. The polls, which are the first in 10 years, will be held in three phases from September 18 to October 1. The counting of votes will be done on October 4.

On Mehbooba Mufti’s Charge

Omar Abdullah also countered the claim of People’s Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti, who said that when they came to power with the BJP, they withdrew 12,000 cases against youngsters.

“What is she talking about? A case was filed against Sarjan Barkati (a cleric) under the PSA (Public Safety Act) by Mehbooba Mufti,” he said.

Mr Abdullah also said that they would remove the PSA from the state book if they came to power.

On Ms Mufti attacking him about their poll alliance with Congress and that there was no agenda between both parties, Mr Abdullah said, “Agenda for alliance or governance alliance only after elections are won. Her former colleague Altaf Bukhari has stated that the PDP and BJP had a relationship before the elections too and it’s only after the elections were over agenda for the alliance took shape. If we also get the opportunity to serve people, we will also come out with such a document,” he said.

On How Kashmir Politics Is Changing 

Omar Abdullah also spoke to NDTV on how politics in Kashmir is changing every day and small parties — which gained traction after 2019 — are slowly withering away like former chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad’s party (Democratic Progressive Azad Party) and Apni Party. 

“I hope he (Mr Azad) gets well soon and gets back to active politics. But as far as his party is concerned, I sympathise with them. If some of them knew such a thing was likely to happen they would have jumped the ship and landed at either Congress or our doorstep,”
he said. 

While commenting on the Apni Party, he said there is a joke in Kashmir “ek pir and chaar mir”. Besides Apni Party chief Altaaf Bukhari, four Mirs are – one each from Tangmarg, Rafiabad, Pahalgam, and Sonawar.

On US Delegation Visiting Him

On meeting a delegation of US diplomats at his Gupkar residence earlier this month, Omar Abdullah said they wanted to know their viewpoint on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir.

“It’s then when I told them if things are better, then travel advisories should be diluted,” he said.

Mr Abdullah had called for a relook at travel advisories for Jammu and Kashmir to ease restrictions over visiting the union territory.

“I had done the same thing with Germany when I was the chief minister,” he said.

The BJP on Tuesday named 29 more candidates for the Jammu and Kashmir polls, which will hold elections for the first time in a decade, taking to 45 the number of seats for which it has announced its nominees.

On Monday, the party had released a list of 44 candidates, but deleted it soon after. Hours later, it released a fresh list with only names of 15 candidates picked for the first phase of the election. Later in the day, another list with just one name was released.

The party’s latest list has 10 candidates for the second phase of polls and 19 for the third phase.

It has made one change from the now-rescinded list, as it has named Baldev Raj Sharma from Shri Mata Vaishno Devi seat in place of Rohit Dubey.

It has fielded Devender Singh Rana from Nagrota and named Satish Sharma as its candidate from Billawar, which was represented by former deputy chief minister Nirmal Singh in the last assembly polls held in 2014.

The BJP has so far not named its nominee for Nowshera, which was represented in 2014 by its current state president Ravinder Raina, and Gandhinagar, from where its another senior leader and former deputy chief minister Kavinder Gupta was elected in the last polls.

Rival parties, the Congress and National Conference, on Monday reached a seat-sharing deal. The regional NC will contest the majority of seats – 51 – and the Congress will contest 32.

Voting for the region’s 90-member assembly will be staggered over three stages between September 18 and October 1. Votes will be counted in October 4.

The last elections in the region were held in 2014, when the BJP entered into a ruling coalition with Mehbooba Mufti-led the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The assembly was dissolved in 2018 after the BJP pulled out and the coalition collapsed.

In 2019, the Centre cancelled the partial autonomy of the region, turning it into a federally administered “union territory”.

That change stalled planned polls, and since then there have been no local-level lawmakers.