Jammu and Kashmir's two major parties – the National Conference and the Peoples Democratic Party – have confirmed that their chiefs Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti will attend the INDIA bloc meeting in Delhi on Tuesday. However, they are unlikely to agree on a seat-sharing pact ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
During the alliance’s last meeting, Omar Abdullah, the NC vice-president and Farooq Abdullah's son, proposed that the seats already held by the INDIA alliance members shouldn’t come up for discussion and only those seats held by BJP and non-INDIA alliance parties should be considered for seat-sharing.
Omar’s suggestion made it clear that NC wouldn’t enter into a pre-poll pact with PDP in Kashmir. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, NC had won all three seats in Kashmir, defeating the People's Conference in Baramulla, Peoples Democratic Party in Srinagar, and Congress in Anantnag.
The two parties alone are feeling increasingly marginalised in the Union Territory after the abrogation of Article 370 by the BJP and the Supreme Court verdict upholding the move.
The BJP has made sweeping changes in the UT that have significantly impacted the political landscape of Jammu and Kashmir, making a return to power for regional parties extremely difficult.
Before Jammu and Kashmir lost its statehood and limited autonomy, the Kashmir region had 46 seats, Jammu had 37, while Ladakh had four seats. However, after the Article 370 abrogation, the number of assembly seats in Jammu has risen to 47 while in Kashmir, it increased to 48.
There will also be five nominations, two for Kashmiri Pandits, two for women, and one for Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir Refugees (POJK). The nominations will be done by the Lieutenant Governor, which observers believe will benefit the BJP.
