Contesting on limited seats part of BJP’s poll strategy in Kashmir
The BJP has a plan that it believes will help it win seats in the Kashmir Valley in the coming elections in the Union territory, and it revolves around contesting fewer constituencies.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has a plan that it believes will help it win seats in the Kashmir Valley in the coming elections in the Union territory, and it revolves around contesting fewer constituencies. In the first phase, the BJP is contesting seven of the 24 constituencies that go to polls, leaving many seats vacant.
In all, of the 47 seats in Kashmir, the BJP will field only 24 candidates, according to party spokesperson Sajjad Yusuf, with some of the rest being contested by “friendly allies” .
The party has never won a single seat in Kashmir although it has emerged as the single largest party in the Jammu region. But after the abrogation of Article 370, in the first local elections held in 2020, three BJP candidates won in Srinagar, Pulwama, and Kupwara districts in the valley, giving the party hope that it can win in assembly polls. “I have reached every ward and village of my constituency and I am hopeful I will win as people support peace and development,” said Engineer Ajaz, district development council (DDC) member from Srinagar who is the BJP candidate from the high profile Lal Chowk assembly segment, which was earlier known as the Amira Kadal constituency.
“This is an urban constituency with rural pockets where leaders of other political parties were absent from the ground,” he added. On Wednesday, BJP general secretary and Jammu and Kashmir election in-charge Ram Madhav campaigned for Ajaz. “Our party will emerge as the single largest party in Jammu and will form next government ...,” he said while campaigning for Ajaz in the city centre.
The BJP’s state media in-charge Sajjad Yusuf , who may contest from Lolab, which goes to polls in the third phase, said that prospects of the party winning assembly seats in the valley are bright. “We are contesting from 24 seats and at least seven to eight seats are such where our party is very strong. The results could be a surprise,” he said.
In 2014, the BJP contested assembly elections in more than 30 seats in the valley but failed to win even one. But the party won 25 of the 33 seats in Jammu, and forged an alliance with the PDP, giving the coalition a total of 53 seats in the 87-member assembly. That alliance ended in 2018. In 2019, the state was broken up into two UTs.
Since then, BJP leaders have been working on making inroads in Kashmir. This time, the BJP is also hopeful that a section of the Pahari community could vote for the party as the party gave them reservation, a long-pending demand of the community which has a sizable number of voters in many assembly segments.
After delimitation in 2023, the UT now has 90 seats, with 43 in Jammu (compared to 37 pre-delimitation) and 47 in Kashmir (compared to 46 before).
The main focus of the BJP leadership will be on the assembly seats of Gurez, Tangdhar, Uri, Tregham, Habbakadal, Lal Chowk, Shangus and Anantnag West, party officials said. “We have fielded good candidates and are also relying on many independent candidates who could become our potential allies after elections,” said a former BDC member who is part of the party’s working committee for Kashmir.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah will be addressing rallies in South and North Kashmir, and this too will have a “good impact on voters,” Yusuf said.
Former J&K legislator Surinder Ambardar, who is also a close aide of Ram Madhav, said that in 2014, there was no party organisation in Kashmir. “We now have our booth level groups and workers in almost every place. Our district and constituency committees are present and we are hopeful this time that the lotus will bloom from Kashmir. And like 2014, BJP will again form the government .”
Political commentator Maqsood Ahmad admitted that BJP appears to be working with a plan and acknowledged its focused effort in “some seats especially Gurez and Tanghdar”. While the party is also relying on allies and independent candidates to help it form the government, much “depends on the performance of their candidates”, he added.