Jammu Kashmir Election Results 2024: A brief history of NC and PDP, the two major local parties

All about the Jammu & Kashmir National Congress (NC)

The party was formed in 1932 by Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah. Around the time of Independence, princely states across British India had to decide whether they would join India or Pakistan. Maharaja Hari Singh, the Hindu ruler of the Muslim-majority erstwhile princely state, signed the Instrument of Accession with India in October 1947 amid an invasion by Pakistan. He appointed Sheikh Abdullah as the Prime Minister of an interim government a year later.

The elections for J&K’s Constituent Assembly in 1951 saw the NC win 73 out of 75 seats but two years later, Abdullah was jailed and his government dismissed by Hari Singh’s son Karan Singh, who was appointed the regent. This was believed to be under Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s orders.

It is believed that Nehru’s actions stemmed from concerns over the state possibly joining Pakistan. Notably, Abdullah also had socialist leanings and enjoyed popularity among the local population.

Sheikh Abdullah’s removal allowed the Congress to dominate, winning 61 of 75 seats in the 1967 elections. Abdullah was released from jail a year later and there was a rapprochement between the NC and the Congress under the Indira Gandhi-Sheikh Abdullah Accord. Abdullah returned to lead the state, and his son Farooq took over the reins when Sheikh Abdullah passed away in 1982.

However, the bonhomie was short-lived. Farooq remained CM until July 1984 — when Governor Jagmohan dismissed his government. The dismissal came after the NC was reduced to a minority following 12 MLAs and an Independent withdrawing support.

Two years later, the new government led by an NC breakaway faction was again dismissed, causing unrest in J&K. A worried Rajiv Gandhi decided to mend fences with Farooq, which led to his government being formed in November 1986 with the Congress’s support. But the move created further unrest as the Valley saw it as Delhi’s blatant interference. The NC and the Congress fought the 1987 Assembly elections together, with the polls seen as “rigged” in their favour.

The next decade saw the rise of militancy in the Valley. In 1999, Farooq switched sides to join the NDA for a period, with his son Omar being a minister in the BJP-led government at the Centre.

Since then, the NC has allied with Congress from time to time. The two parties fought the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in a tactical alliance. The NC is also part of the Congress-led INDIA alliance.

All about the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)

PDP founder Mufti Mohammed Sayeed started his political career in the 1950s in the Democratic National Conference, an NC splinter group led by Ghulam Mohammed Sadiq. Even as the DNC later merged with the NC, he remained an important political leader.

Prime Minister Indira Gandhi spotted Sayeed’s political skills, and in July 1984, he is believed to have helped orchestrate the toppling of the NC government led by Farooq Abdullah by his brother-in-law G M Shah, with the help of the Congress. Sayeed became Tourism Minister in 1986 under the Rajiv Gandhi government, but later quit the Congress to join the Jan Morcha along with V P Singh. He then became the first Kashmiri Muslim Home Minister of India, serving for two years until the VP Singh government collapsed in 1991.

Sayeed rejoined the Congress under P V Narasimha Rao, only to leave it in 1999 to form the PDP. While his first term as CM was from 2002-2005 in coalition with the NC, the second time he came to power was after the 2014 polls, in alliance with the BJP. He died in 2016, and his daughter Mehbooba now leads the party.

The PDP allied with the BJP to form the government in 2014, but this union proved short-lived.

Since the 2019 abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, which had accorded the state of J&K a special status and greater autonomy in 1949, both the NC and the PDP have demanded its restoration. But in recent months, with polls in the state for the first time since 2014, their differences have again emerged. The BJP has also targeted both parties and their top leadership in recent years, accusing them of promoting “dynastic politics”.