Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Elections 2024: People's Democratic Party (PDP) chief spokesperson Suhail Bukhari resigned from the party on Tuesday, ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir. Bukhari confirmed his resignation to news agency PTI but did not provide further details.
A journalist-turned-politician, Suhail Bukhari was a close associate of PDP president Mehbooba Mufti and had served as her advisor during her tenure as chief minister.
Why did Suhail Bukhari quit PDP?
His decision to leave the party is believed to be linked to his disappointment over not receiving the party's mandate to contest in the elections. Bukhari had hoped to run from the Wagoora-Kreeri constituency, but the recent return of former minister Basharat Bukhari to the PDP reduced his chances of securing the ticket.
J-K Assembly Elections 2024
Polling to elect 90 members of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly will take place in three phases starting from September 18 and the counting of votes is scheduled for October 4. The three-phase elections to the 90-member Jammu and Kashmir assembly will be held on September 18, September 25 and October 1. It will be the first election in the valley since provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution were abrogated and the erstwhile state divided into two Union Territories in 2019.
What happened in 2014 Assembly Elections?
The 2014 Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly election was held in five phases from November 25– December 20 2014. The results were declared on December 23. Just before the election, Congress broke its alliance with the National Conference and contested on all seats in the assembly alone. This was the last assembly election before the territory's special status was revoked and Ladakh separated as a Union territory in 2019.
In the total of 87 seats constituency, the Jammu and Kashmir People's Democratic Front (JKPDP) won 28 seats, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 25 seats, the National Conference secured 15 seats, Congress 12 seats, JKPC 2 seats, CPI(M) and JKPDF 1 seat each, and Independent 3 seats. The PDP and the BJP officially started talks. Both parties had a two-member team to form a Common Minimum Programme (CMP). The new PDP-BJP government took the oath of office on 1 March with Mufti Mohammad Sayeed as chief minister for the full term of six years and BJP's Nirmal Kumar Singh as his deputy. This was the first time that the BJP was a coalition partner in the Jammu and Kashmir government.
(With PTI inputs)
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