Kashmir LS bypolls: Allies BJP, PDP to contest separately; NC, Congress join hands

The BJP, the alliance partner in the PDP-led government in Jammu and Kashmir, has decided to contest the upcoming bypolls for two Lok Sabha seats in the valley independently, while the National Conference and Congress have joined hands for the elections in April.

The BJP, the alliance partner in the PDP-led government in Jammu and Kashmir, has decided to contest the upcoming bypolls for two Lok Sabha seats in the valley independently and the National Conference and Congress have joined hands for the elections in April.

The Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency fell vacant after Mehbooba Mufti became the Jammu and Kashmir chief minister. (PTI File)

The Srinagar constituency will go to polls on April 9 and voting in Anantnag seat will be held on April 12.

The Anantnag constituency fell vacant after Mehbooba Mufti became the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir last year. The Srinagar Lok Sabha seat has been empty since one of the PDP founders and a senior leader Tariq Hameed Karra resigned from the party in September following the 2016 street protests in which at least 90 people lost their lives.

The Peoples Democratic Party has fielded the CM’s brother Tassaduq Mufti in south Kashmir’s Anantnag, suggesting all may not be well within the alliance with the BJP in Jammu and Kashmir.

Speaking about the development, PDP spokesperson Nayeem Akhtar confirmed the two parties are “not in any kind of arrangement for the two Lok Sabha seats’’.

“The BJP will contest the by-elections in Srinagar and Anantnag Lok Sabha seats and the party will announce candidates very soon,” Kaul was quoted as saying in the statement.

BJP Kashmir spokesperson Altaf Thakur said the decision to go it alone was taken because of the demand of the party cadre. “Having a pre-poll alliance is not part of our agenda of the alliance, we have made no such commitment,’’ he said.

In a pre-poll alliance, the Congress will contest the Anantnag seat while the NC will field its candidate in Srinagar. The two parties have decided Farooq Abdullah, president of NC, as the Srinagar candidate and Congress chief GA Mir will contest the Anantnag seat.

The announcement was made at a press conference on Wednesday.

“For the past few days, both the parties (NC and Congress) conducted internal exercises and came to the conclusion that if we really want to defeat the candidates of the present government in Srinagar and Anantnag parliamentary constituencies, the best thing to do is to fight the elections jointly,’’ former chief minister Omar Abdullah said.

Earlier, Nazir Ahmad Khan was announced as the party’s candidate from Srinagar.

The elections will the first after last year’s protests in the valley in the aftermath of the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani in an encounter with security forces.