Home Minister Amit Shah to address three BJP poll rallies in J&K on Monday

Union Home Minister, Amit Shah will be in J&K on Monday, the last day of campaigning for the first phase of the Assembly elections, to address three BJP poll rallies in the Jammu division.

BJP leaders said Amit Shah will address two rallies in Kishtwar district which a large number of people are expected to attend.

As per the state BJP, the Home Minister will hold the first rally at the Chhattargarh Sports Stadium in the Padder Nagseni constituency and the second at the Parade Ground in the Kishtwar constituency.

The third rally is slated to be held at Chanderkote in the Ramban constituency in Ramban.

This is Amit Shah’s second BJP poll campaign visit to J&K.

Earlier, he came here on a two-day visit when he released the party’s poll manifesto on September 6 and addressed a public rally on September 7. His visit comes two days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed an election rally in Doda town.

So far, PM Modi, Home Minister Shah and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh have campaigned for the BJP in J&K.

The Prime Minister is scheduled to visit J&K again on September 19 when he will address two public meetings, one in Srinagar city in the Valley and the other in Katra town of Jammu division.

The BJP has started an aggressive poll campaign in the Jammu division where the party won 25 seats in the 2014 Assembly elections.

After delimitation, J&K has 90 Assembly seats - 47 in the Kashmir Valley and 43 in the Jammu division. These include 9 ST seats and 7 SC seats.

The main electoral battle in the UT is between the National Conference-Congress alliance and the BJP. The PDP had won 28 seats in the 2014 elections and it formed a coalition government with the BJP that was led first by Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and after his demise, by his daughter, Mehbooba Mufti.

In June 2018, the BJP withdrew from the coalition after which the then Governor, Satya Pal Malik placed the state under the governor’s rule. He dissolved the state Assembly later.

On August 5, 2019, the Constitution's Articles 370 and 35A were abrogated and the state was divided into two Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh. J&K is going for an Assembly election after 10 years and its significance cannot be overstated since this is the first after Article 370 was abrogated and it completely integrated with the rest of the country.