Elections Announced In Haryana And Jammu & Kashmir, First Assembly Polls After Lok Sabha 2024

The Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said polls in the sensitive border territory of Jammu & Kashmir will be held in three phases on September 18, September 25, and October 1.

The elections will however be held in a single phase on October 1 in Haryana. The poll counting will be done on the 4th of October.

While announcing the elections the Chief Election Commissioner Rajeev Kumar said: “People want elections to be conducted there as early as possible... The long queues at the polling booth in J&K during the Lok Sabha elections are proof that people not only want change but also want to raise their voices by becoming a part of that change. This glimpse of hope and democracy shows that the people want to change the picture."

Haryana: BJP Vs Congress

Five years back in 2019, when assembly elections were held in Haryana, the BJP came out as the single largest party with 40 out of 90 seats in the legislature. Short on numbers, the party formed the government by cobbling together a post-poll alliance with the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) and roping in seven independent legislators.

BJP’s Manohar Lal Khattar was sworn in as chief minister while JJP’s Dushyant Chautala became his number two in the cabinet. Khattar has since resigned and is now a minister in Modi 3.0, while Chautala exited the alliance just before Lok Sabha polls held earlier this year.

The Congress won five seats in the Lok Sabha in that election while the BJP won the remaining five. The BJP led in 44 assembly segments while the Congress-Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) alliance were the leader in 46 segments across 10 parliamentary constituencies.

Jammu & Kashmir: First Assembly Polls Since State Was Bifurcated

Jammu and Kashmir has been under Central rule since mid-2018 after the incumbent government fell as the BJP pulled out of the coalition government led by Mehbooba Mufti. A year later, in August 2019, the state was bifurcated into two union territories – Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, and Article 370 which had till then given the erstwhile princely state a special status, was abrogated.

Since then, the electoral process has also been kept in abeyance. Last December, the Supreme Court directed the Centre to ensure that the election process in the state is concluded by September 30, 2024.

The main battle is expected to be between the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC) led by Farooq Abdullah and the Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party (JKPDP) led by Mehbooba Mufti. However, the Congress and BJP will both be important forces in the election.

The National Conference won two seats in the Lok Sabha elections held earlier this year, while BJP won two from the Jammu region and an independent candidate Abdul Rashid Sheikh secured the fifth LS seat from the union territory.