The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) signalled its poll readiness for Assembly elections in three States and one Union Territory, that of Jammu and Kashmir, where Assembly election is to be held for the first time since the abrogation of Article 370 and removal of statehood.
In a communiqué from the BJP, the party stated that Union Ministers Bhupendra Yadav and Ashwini Vaishnaw will be election in-charges for Maharashtra; their Cabinet colleagues Dharmendra Pradhan and Tripura MP Biplab Deb of Haryana; Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma to be in-charge of Jharkhand; and Union Minister G. Kishen Reddy will be in-charge of Jammu and Kashmir.
Earlier this month, the Election Commission of India (EC), keeping to the Supreme Court deadline of September 30, 2024 invited non-recognised but registered parties to apply for their preferred election symbols. The delimitation of Assembly seats took place in May 2022, with the Jammu area getting six more Assembly seats and the Kashmir Valley getting one more seat in a House of 114 members, and 24 seats kept for Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK). The last Assembly election in J&K was held in 2014, when it was a full-fledged State.
The return of Mr. Yadav as one of the in-charges for Maharashtra is also significant as he was the poll in-charge in the 2019 Assembly election to the State as well, when the BJP won a handsome 105 seats in a 288-seat House. Quite clearly, a beleaguered BJP is looking for a seasoned leader at home with the party organisation and the State unit.
The results of the elections in the three States and one Union Territory in the year when the General Election has thrown up a coalition government at the Centre will have implications for the political authority exercised by the BJP within the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in New Delhi as well.
