Patna (Bihar): Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led Janta Dal-United (JDU) has named six candidates for the upcoming Jammu and Assembly elections, in a bid to expand its footprint beyond Bihar. The party will announce more candidates for the much-awaited polls in the coming days, JD(U)'s Jammu and Kashmir unit chief, GM Shaheen, told media.
The party's National Spokesperson, Rajiv Ranjan Prasad, said the move to field candidates in Jammu and Kashmir polls was aimed at making the JD(U) a national party. "The party already has an organisation in J&K. The work done by Nitish Kumar in Bihar makes a base for us to contest elections in other states, including J&K," he told ETV Bharat.
J&K Once Had Eight Janata Dal MLAs
In 1996, the Janata Dal, former Prime Minister VP Singh's party, had eight MLAs in Jammu and Kashmir. Its offshoot JD(U) has not contested elections in the union territory. After 23 years, the JD(U) has decided to contest elections in the region. Earlier, the JD(U) had contested assembly elections outside Bihar, including Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Delhi, and Nagaland. The party had already fielded two candidates in the first phase of the polling, scheduled for September 18.
JD(U) eyeing ticketless candidates of other parties:
Political analyst Sunil Pandey said that JD(U) does not have any support base in Jammu and Kashmir. Whatever the support base JD(U) has is in Bihar, he said. "Wherever the party contested elections in other states, they had forfeited their deposits in most of the places except Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh," Pandey said.
According to him, Nitish Kumar is harbouring a dream to make the JD(U) a national party, hence, he is trying his luck in J&K too. "It is an effort from Janata Dal-United that when the leaders of other big parties do not get tickets, it should make them contest elections on its symbol. But till now the party has not been successful in this aspect too," Pandey said.
JD(U)'s tone is different from its ally BJP
In Bihar, the JD(U) is a part of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), but in other states, it contests elections alone due to a lack of coordination with the BJP. The JD(U) is also fighting elections separately from the NDA in Jammu and Kashmir with the hope of getting some seats.
The JD(U) is silent on whether its chief Nitish Kumar will go to Jammu and Kashmir for an election campaign or not. The party leaders say some senior leaders from Bihar will campaign in the region. They also promised to push for the release of youth and other people imprisoned for stone pelting in Jammu and Kashmir.
"The local unit has made up its mind to contest the elections. The organisation has been working continuously there. We sought the consent of the national president and national working president of the party. Based on their approval, candidates were finalised and are being fielded considering their strengths. The state unit chief has had a meeting with Nitish Kumar before the decision to contest the polls were taken," said Afaq Ahmed Khan, in-charge of Jammu and Kashmir.
More about J&K polls
In J&K, voting will be held in three phases for 90 assembly seats. A total of 279 candidates are in the poll fray for 24 constituencies for the September 18 phase. Of these, 183 are contesting from 16 seats in the Kashmir Valley, and 96 are in the fray for eight seats in the Jammu division.
In the second phase, 26 assembly seats are up for contest on September 25, and in the third phase, voting will be held on 40 assembly seats on October 1. The counting of votes will take place on October 8. The counting of votes was to take place on October 4, but the Election Commission of India changed it when it revised the poll date for Haryana Legislative Assembly.
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