More than 40 per cent of the 908 candidates contesting the assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir are Independents, leading to claims that a large number of them have been propped up by the Bharatiya Janata Party to divide votes.
Jammu and Kashmir Bharatiya Janata Party chief Ravinder Raina is going to miss voting for his party in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections as the party has not fielded any candidate from his home town which falls in Anantnag-Rajouri parliamentary constituency.
Mufti said the Bharat Jodo Yatra was like a breath of fresh air in Kashmir as it allowed people to come out of their homes in numbers for the first time since 2019.
The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) is poised to form the first elected government in Jammu and Kashmir, having secured a victory in the assembly elections by securing 49 out of 90 seats on which polls were held for the first time since the abrogation of Article 370 five years ago.
Mufti was served an eviction notice for her 'Fairview' residence at the high security Gupkar area of the city here last month as well.
Meanwhile, police did not allow journalists to gather near National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah and vice-president Omar Abdullah's residence at Gupkar here, officials said.
'There is no link between Article 370 abrogation and a rise in voting percentage.'
Abdullah said they are claiming that terrorism is over but the ground situation shows that it has increased in otherwise peaceful Jammu region.
The former chief minister urged the people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh not to be disheartened or lose hope over the apex court's decision.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, however, was conspicuous by her absence at the event, which was attended by tens of thousands of people as the Congress sought to promote opposition unity.
Rajnath came down heavily on the National Conference-Congress alliance over its poll promise of restoring Article 370 and said it is impossible as long as the BJP is there.
Besides the national capital, polling will be held Saturday in 14 seats in Uttar Pradesh, all 10 seats of Haryana, eight seats each in Bihar and West Bengal, six seats in Odisha, four seats in Jharkhand and one seat in Jammu and Kashmir. Simultaneously, polling will be held for 42 assembly constituencies in Odisha.
In her maiden speech at a political rally, Sunita also asked people whether Kejriwal should resign as Chief Minister.
'The Abdullah family is the problem and facilitator of the instability that we are seeing in Kashmir.'
'If you post on social media on an issue like power cuts in Tral, the police will come to your home and tell you to remove your social media post.' 'If you don't, then the local police threaten you that they will book you under PSA.' 'This is happening all the time in Kashmir.'
Terrorists struck at two places in Kashmir on Saturday night, killing a former sarpanch in Shopian and injuring a tourist couple from Rajasthan in Anantnag, two days ahead of Lok Sabha elections in Baramulla.
Mehbooba Mufti said that incidents like the ones at Handwara and Nathnusa are "unacceptable" and come as a major setback to the efforts of the state government in consolidating peace dividends in the state.
'My mother feels it will be tough and emotional for her to enter an assembly which has essentially been reduced to a municipality now.' 'My opinion is that even if it is a municipality one cannot cede that space to the BJP.'
If Rashid cannot be the king, he could be the kingmaker after October 8 when the results to the J&K assembly are declared.
In a significant political development, National Conference president Farooq Abdullah announced on Thursday that an alliance with the Congress was finalised for all 90 assembly seats in Jammu and Kashmir, which is going for its maiden assembly polls after being reorganised into a Union Territory.
Will Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, who gets his orders from New Delhi, call the shots or allow a democratically elected government to independently govern, questions Ramesh Menon.
'The lack of opportunities here remains the biggest worry.' 'We have seen investment summits, but if you look around, much of it is only on paper and not on the ground.'
The statement comes after political leaders, including former chief ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, claimed they were put under house arrest.
The plan to relieve NSG from VIP security tasks has been in the making since 2012 when NSG commanders foresaw an event where simultaneous terror attacks could be witnessed at one time on multiple centres in the country and the commandos will have to be rushed in different directions.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday clinched a stunning hat-trick win in Haryana overcoming anti-incumbency and dashing Congress' hopes of a comeback while the National Conference-Congress combine pulled off a spectacular victory in maiden elections in Jammu and Kashmir after abrogation of Article 370 in 2019.
Several politicians, including the former J-K chief ministers Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah, have condemned the action by police, alleging that it will disaffect the youths with such an extreme punishment.
Although the Supreme Court has mandated the Centre to conduct the polls by the end of September, a spate of terrorist attacks in J&K could cause delays.
'If the country felt very strongly about the BJP, then why did the country not put money where the mouth is?'
The PDP looks a distant third in the race, observes Mohammed Sayeed Malik, the distinguished commentator on Kashmir politics.
The former Congress president alleged that PM Modi had a "monopoly over corruption".
The Opposition INDIA bloc on Friday finalised a 14-member coordination-cum-election strategy committee comprising members of various parties, and it will function as the alliance's highest decision-making body and start work on seat-sharing immediately, sources said.
'...or go to jail.' 'The government is getting them silenced.'
Political parties and leaders wait with bated breath for the Haryana and Jammu-Kashmir assembly poll results on Tuesday.
She said on one hand, giant hoardings calling upon Kashmiris to "celebrate" the abrogation of Article 370 have been put up across Srinagar, whereas "brute force is being used to choke the actual sentiment of the people".
The former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister alleged that government employees were 'forcibly mobilised' and ferried to Modi's rally to paint a 'pretty picture that all is well' post 2019, when the Centre abrogated the provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution and bifurcated the erstwhile state into Union territories.
The row broke out after a private television news agency attributed the excerpts of the article shared by the NC leader to him.
The vehicle, a Tavera, was on its way to Jammu from Srinagar and it fell into a 300-foot gorge at the Battery Cheshma area of the district around 1.15 am, they said.
Seven students, who were arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for allegedly raising objectionable slogans and celebrating the Indian cricket team's loss in the World Cup final, were Saturday granted bail by a court after police dropped charges under the stringent anti-terror law.
'The wave of terrorism is over in Kashmir. Local people do not support it.'
Indian police arrested seven students in the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) region under anti-terror laws for allegedly celebrating Australia's victory over India in the men's Cricket World Cup final earlier this month, police said on Tuesday.
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