Chunav Flashback: The year was 1996, and the Samba Assembly Constituency in Jammu and Kashmir used to be a reserved seat. While the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had a presence in the area, it struggled to find a candidate to contest the election from this seat. Eventually, the party managed to convince a young leader, Subhash Bhagat, to contest. As the nomination date approached, Bhagat was escorted with drums and a large crowd to file his nomination papers.
Meanwhile, some party leaders persuaded Babu Parmanand, a leader from the National Conference, to join BJP and contest the election. Parmanand was inducted into the party, and his nomination was also filed. Suddenly, the BJP found itself with two candidates when initially they couldn’t find even one. The challenge now was that only one could actually contest the election.
To resolve this, BJP leaders convinced Bhagat to withdraw his nomination, reasoning that he was still young and would have many future opportunities. Under pressure, he stepped back and became a "reserve candidate". However, when the election results came in, the BJP candidate lost and the seat was won by the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
J-K Assembly Polls 2024
It should be noted here that Jammu and Kashmir was reorganised as a Union Territory after the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019. The elections will be held on September 18, September 25 and October 1. The results of the polls will be announced on October 4. In the upcoming assembly elections also, people once again want a minister from Vijaypur assembly seat.
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