On September 18, 24 constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir will vote in an Assembly election for the first time in a decade. Concentrated largely in South Kashmir, 16 of the seats going to polls are in the Muslim-dominated region while the remaining eight seats are in the Jammu division. Among these 24 seats, there are at least eight that have been carved out of other seats or renamed after the delimitation exercise in 2022. A total of 219 candidates are set to contest these seats. In the Kokernag seat, which has now been reserved for Scheduled Tribes (STs) for the first time in a state election, there are 10 candidates. In 2014, the last time J&K held Assembly polls, the former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti-led Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) came out on top in the 21 Assembly seats that correspond to the post-delimitation seats going to polls in the first phase. In these seats that year, the PDP won 11 seats, the BJP and Congress four each, and the Farooq Abdullah-led National Conference and CPI(M) one each. In terms of vote share for the four major parties, the PDP led in these seats with 31.28%, followed by the NC at 24.15%, the Congress at 19.33% and the BJP at 14.6%. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, held prior to the abrogation of Article 370 and the 2022 delimitation, the Congress was the leading party among the Assembly segments going to polls in the first phase. It secured the most votes in nine segments, followed by the NC in six, the PDP in four and the BJP in two. In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the NC led in 11 Assembly segments, followed by the PDP in five, the Congress in four and the BJP in three. While the former allies the BJP and PDP are contesting independently this time, the Congress and NC are continuing their Lok Sabha tie-up as part of the INDIA bloc, though they are engaged in “friendly fights” in Banihal, Doda and Bhaderwah. Long-time rivals NC and PDP, which are INDIA bloc allies at the national level, were unable to come together for these Assembly polls. At stake in Phase 1 Total seats: 24 – 16 in Kashmir and 8 in Jammu Voters in Phase 1: 23.27 lakh – 11.76 lakh men and 11.51 lakh women Turnout in 2014: 61.21% The candidates in Phase 1 Total candidates: 219 Candidates with criminal cases: 36 (16% of total candidates) PDP: 4 (19% of party’s candidates) NC: 4 (22%) BJP: 1 (6%) Congress: 1 (11%) The ST-reserved Kokernag seat has the most candidates with criminal cases at 5. Crorepati candidates: 110 (50%) PDP: 18 (86%) NC: 16 (89%) BJP: 11 (69%) Congress: 8 (89%) The PDP’s Abdul Gaffar Sofi, contesting in Anantnag West, is the richest candidate in Phase 1 with total assets worth Rs 66.31 crore. Average assets: Rs 3 crore PDP: Rs 7.94 crore NC: Rs 5.87 crore BJP: Rs 4.48 crore Congress: Rs 3.67 crore Women candidates: 9 (4%) Average age of candidates: 48.5 years Youngest: Meenkashi Bhagat, 25, contesting Bhadarwah for BSP Oldest: Mehboob Beg, 75, contesting Anantnag for PDP; Mohamad Yousuf Tarigami, 75, contesting Kulgam for CPI(M) Candidates who are graduates or above: 108 (49%) Five big contests Anantnag | Mehboob Beg (PDP), former Cabinet minister vs Peerzada Mohammad Syed (Congress), former J&K party chief vs Hilal Ahmad Shah (Apni Party), former municipal corporation chair vs Syed Peerzada Wajahat Hussain (BJP) Srigufwara-Bijbehara | Iltija Mufti (PDP), daughter of party chief and ex-CM Mehbooba Mufti vs Bashir Ahmad Shah (NC), former MLC vs Sofi Yousif (BJP), former MLC Pulwama | Waheed Ur Rehman Parra (PDP), party youth wing chief vs Mohammad Khalil Band (NC), former minister vs Talat Majeed (Ind), former Jamaat-e-Islami member Banihal | Vikar Rasool Wani (Congress), former J&K party president vs Sajad Shaheen (NC), party district president vs Mohd Saleem Bhat (BJP) Rajpora | Syed Bashir Ahmad (PDP), former minister vs Ghulam Mohiuddin Mir (NC), won seat in 1996 vs Arsheed Ahmad Bhat (BJP) vs Altaf Ahmad Bhat (Ind), brother of jailed Hurriyat leader and backed by Engineer Rashid’s AIP Zainapora | Aijaz Ahmad Mir (Ind), ex-PDP MLA and backed by Jamaat vs Ghulam Muhiudding Wani (PDP) vs Showkat Hussain Ganaie (NC)
