The Players, The Politics

Jammu and Kashmir's politics has traced an unusual trajectory over the years

- Naseer Ganai

THIS is the first assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir since the region was designated a Union Territory under the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act 2019, passed on 9 August, 2019. Once an autonomous state within the Indian Union, J&K had extensive powers, including its own prime minister and Sadre-Riyasat until 1965, when these positions were replaced by that of the chief minister and governor.

Ahead of the announcement of the election in July 2024, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) expanded the administrative powers of the Lieutenant Governor (LG) significantly.

The move made former Chief Minister and National Conference (NC) vice-president Omar Abdullah angry.

"The people of J&K deserve better than a powerless rubber stamp CM who will have to beg the LG to get his/her peon appointed," Abdullah said. Both Abdullah and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) President Mehbooba Mufti said they would not participate in the election in a Union Territory, but when the election was announced, they had a change of heart. However, the NC vice president soon realised it was a tough fight. He had lost the North Kashmir Baramulla parliamentary seat earlier this year to jailed leader Engineer Rashid.

So, an uncertain Abdullah decided to contest from two constituencies this time: Baramulla and Ganderbal. Mehbooba Mufti abstained from contesting in the polls herself, but has been campaigning vigorously all across Jammu and Kashmir and also for her daughter, Iltija Mufti, in the Bijbehara constituency.