5 ‘firsts’ that make Jammu Kashmir election special

Jammu and Kashmir will be voting in its first assembly election since it became a Union Territory in 2019. The Election Commission announced the poll schedule for the Union Territory on Friday.

The elections will be held in three phases — September 18, 25 and October 1. Votes will be counted on October 4.

The extended delay in holding assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir had drawn criticism from various quarters. The last assembly election was held in 2014.  

Hearing matters related to Jammu and Kashmir, the Supreme Court earlier directed the Election Commission and the central government to hold assembly election in the Union Territory by September 30. The election schedule was announced after the poll panel visited the Union Territory to review security situation and administrative preparedness for the democratic exercise.

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The upcoming assembly election makes it a special exercise as it includes various firsts.

First in 10 years

In 2014, Jammu and Kashmir was still a full-fledged state. It went to the polls in five phases from November 25 to December 20 for 87 assembly seats.

Separatist leaders gave a call for election boycott but the then-state that also included Ladakh  recorded a 65 per cent voter turnout. The Bharatiya Janata Party surprised many with a resolute performance in Jammu while the Peoples Democratic Party dominated the Kashmir region.

The PDP won 28 seats, followed by the BJP’s 25. The National Conference won 15 seats and the Congress 12 as they fought separately.

A seemingly unnatural alliance was formed in 2015 to form a PDP-BJP government, which fell in 2018.  

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First election as Union Territory

Jammu and Kashmir lost its statehood in August 2019, when the Modi government brought a bill for state’s reorganisation. It was for the first time in India’s constitutional history that a state was relegated to the status of a Union Territory.

The new law created two Union Territories in place of the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The resulting units were Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, which had long demanded a separate identity as a Union Territory.

Jammu and Kashmir continued to have a legislative assembly while Ladakh was denied that facility. Ladakh was to be governed by local autonomous bodies under the Centre’s watch.

First election post-Article 370

For seven decades, special status was a matter of Jammu and Kashmir’s identity. It was created in combination with Article 370 of the Constitution of India and Article 35A mentioned in its annexure.  

The twin-provision allowed Jammu and Kashmir to have its own Constitution, a separate flag and a local residency condition unlike other Indian states. Its special status had been a contentious issue for years and the BJP had campaigned against it from the days of its predecessor, the Bharatiya Jan Sangh.

The scrapping of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and its relegation to the status of a Union Territory were anticipated to cause an upheaval in social and political space of Kashmir, which has seen unabated sponsorship of separatism from Pakistan-based groups. The Indian government placed several senior leaders under prohibitory detention to maintain peace in the Union Territory.

Five years later, the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir is set to go to the polls.

First assembly election without Ladakh

While Ladakh was part of Jammu and Kashmir, the state, it had four assembly seats. It craved attention in policy-making that remained highly Valley-centric. Both Jammu and Ladakh regions complained about bias in policy-making and fund allocation for various development works.

With the Modi government’s decision to reorganise Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh got a separate identity. Its tagging with Jammu and Kashmir ended. This means this will be the first assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir since the 1950s in which Ladakh won’t be voting together.

First election after delimitation

Following the reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir, the central government went for a delimitation exercise in Jammu and Kashmir. The final order of the delimitation panel was announced in 2022. The Lok Sabha polls were held according to the delimitation order. This will be the first assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir after delimitation.

Earlier, Jammu and Kashmir — with Ladakh — had 87 assembly seats. Now, it has 90 seats — 47 in the Kashmir region and 43 in the Jammu region. Another 24 sears are theoretically reserved for Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. This takes the full strength of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly to 124.