In survival battle, PDP looks at 4-cornered contest in Kashmir
SRINAGAR: In 2014, the Peoples Democratic Party was the singlelargest party in the assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir and went on to form the government in alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
A decade later, former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti’s party is fighting a battle for its survival in its erstwhile bastion of south Kashmir.
The party faced a rout in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls of 2024, winning zero seats and just 8.45% of the votes. Its main rival in the Valley, the National Conference (NC) won two out of the three seats in the Valley and 22.2% of the votes. Its main leader — Mehbooba Mufti — lost by 181,000 votes from Anantnag-Rajouri
And now, in the first assembly elections in the region in a decade, the party faces an existential battle in a four-cornered contest involving its traditional rivals NC-Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party, and a clutch of independents and smaller parties backed by entities such as Jamaat-e-Islami Kashmir.
“PDP’s chances don’t seem to be bright in this election. It carries the burden of its past. People are blaming it, in part, for what happened in recent years in J&K and it won’t be able to come close to its past performance in south Kashmir,” said political analyst and retired Kashmir University profeswent
sor, Noor Baba. The Union Territory goes to the polls in three phases beginning September 18. The votes will be counted on October 8.
Burdened by past alliances
The party’s spectacular performance in 2014 — it won 28 seats and 22.67% of the votes — ironically set the stage for its troubles. The party formed a coalition of ideological extremes with the BJP, and Mufti Mohammed Sayeed became the chief minister.
But in 2018, after Sayeed’s death, the BJP revoked its support and pushed the erstwhile state into governor’s rule. Then on August 5, 2019, the Union government scrapped the region’s special status and statehood by abrogating Article 370. It imposed near-curfew restrictions, suspended internet services and detained an array of political leaders. The move caused deep resentment in the Valley, and many people — especially in the PDP’s bastion of south Kashmir, also a hotbed of militancy — blamed Mehbooba Mufti’s party for aligning with the BJP.
“This time the movement is towards NC-Congress. People are concerned about their collective loss,” said Ghulam Nabi, a fruit businessman from Anantnag.
“Although all mainstream parties have caused degradation of Kashmir’s political status but we blame the PDP for bringing the BJP here,” he added.
The Mufti family bastion
The party was formed by Mufti Mohammad Sayeed in 1999 after leaving the Congress. The PDP on to form the government along with the Congress in 2002 when it won 16 seats.
With the Mufti’s belonging to Anantnag, South Kashmir became the bastion of the PDP. Mehbooba would often take part in protests against the special operation group (SOG or Task Force), an anti insurgency force often alleged to have been involved in atrocities against civilians in rural areas.
Against this backdrop, the 2024 results came as a rude shock. Not only did Mehbooba Mufti lose, the party could manage a lead only in five assembly segments (out of 90) in south Kashmir’s Anantnag and Pulwama districts, in some cases by very close margins. The PDP’s performance in south Kashmir was built on the tacit support of the Jamaat-e-Islami, said political observers. But the organisation has now fielded its own candidates in around 10 seats.
Chances of revival
Analysts say the PDP’s chances will hinge on its ability to revive in south Kashmir because its chances in Srinagar and north Kashmir are low. “Now there is a not a single safe seat for the PDP,” said Farhan Ahmad, a university student from Pulwama district. “Its chances are from seats such as Pulwama, Bijbehara, Anantnag, Devsar and Tral,” he added.
Mehbooba Mufti is not fighting these polls but has fielded her daughter Iltija Mufti, from the family’s home constituency of Sirgufwara-Bijbehara.