Battlelines Drawn: NC vs PDP Showdown Looms Over Kashmir LS Seats

Srinagar, Mar 26: The political scenario in Kashmir is set for a major shake-up as two of the Valley’s prominent parties, the National Conference (NC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), appear headed for a confrontation in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
The discord stems from the NC’s decision to field candidates for all three parliamentary seats in the Kashmir Valley, effectively pulling out of the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) – a coalition formed in 2019 to prevent the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) footprint in J&K.

With the NC’s unexpected move, the PDP, led by Mehbooba Mufti, finds itself compelled to follow suit and announce its candidates, setting the stage for a clash between the two regional heavyweights that could potentially divide the crucial Kashmiri-speaking Muslim vote bank.
“We are a political party, and what good remains out of elections?” questioned a senior PDP leader, hinting at the party’s intention to contest rather than cede ground to its erstwhile ally.
The fracture within the PAGD alliance has caused ripples, with insiders suggesting that both parties are engaged in a high-stakes game of brinkmanship. While the NC plans to name candidates like Mian Altaf Ahmad, Dr Farooq Abdullah, and Omar Abdullah for the Anantnag-Rajouri, Srinagar, and Baramulla seats respectively, the PDP is expected to field Mehbooba Mufti from Anantnag-Rajouri, seen as the party’s stronghold.
Political analysts warn that a divided Kashmiri vote could inadvertently benefit the BJP in Anantnag-Rajouri and potentially aid BJP-backed candidates in Srinagar and Baramulla, should the saffron party opt not to field its own nominees in these constituencies.
Adding a further twist, the J&K Apni Party, led by Syed Altaf Bukhari, has also thrown its hat into the ring, vowing to contest the Lok Sabha polls and further fracturing the Valley’s complex political landscape.
As the high-stakes electoral drama unfolds, one thing is clear: the days of any single party’s undisputed supremacy in the Kashmir Valley appear numbered, with each entity now forced to fiercely contest every vote in this highly unpredictable and rapidly evolving political battleground.