This is not the first time in the past two decades that such high numbers of Independents are contesting. The 2008 election, soon after the row over land distribution to the Amarnath Shrine Board, saw 468 of them; and the 2014 election as many as 274.
Among the 346 Independents this time are the 34 nominees of the as-yet-unregistered Awami Ittehad Party (AIP), the political outfit floated by former two-time Langate legislator Sheikh Abdul 'Engineer' Rashid. The AIP has also forged an alliance with the Jamaat-e-Islami Jammu and Kashmir, which, despite a ban since 2019, has fielded proxy candidates from 10 constituencies.
However, with the Independents making up 40 per cent of the total 873 candidates, many, including former chief ministers Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah, are accusing them of contesting in order to split the vote in the Muslim-majority Valley.
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