Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) chief Ghulam Nabi Azad will not campaign for party candidates in the upcoming assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir due to health issues.
The party, founded two years ago by the former Congress leader, has fielded 13 candidates for the first phase of polling in the Union Territory on September 18. Their fate remains uncertain for now.
On Wednesday, 75-year-old Azad expressed regret over his inability to campaign for DPAP candidates. “Unforeseen circumstances have forced me to withdraw from the campaign… Candidates should assess whether they can proceed without my presence. If they feel my absence will affect their chances, they have the freedom to withdraw their candidature,” DPAP said in a statement quoting Azad, the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister.
This is the first assembly election after the DPAP was formed by Azad in September 2022 after he quit the Congress party after decades of association. Two former MLAs, Abdul Majeed Wani and Mohammad Amin Bhat, are among the 13 names who filed nominations for the first phase of polling.
The DPAP, which projected itself as an ‘alternative’ to regional parties – the National Conference and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), had a dismal electoral debut. All three Lok Sabha candidates in the 2024 general elections lost their deposits. The situation went from bad to worse with the number of desertions increasing ahead of the assembly elections. Several leaders, including treasurer and former minister Taj Mohiuddin, left the party.
Jammu and Kashmir will go to polls in three phases starting September 18. This will be the first assembly election in the erstwhile state in ten years.
In the last assembly elections held in 2014, the PDP emerged as the largest party with 28 seats. The BJP came second with 25 seats. At that time, the PDP led by Mehbooba’s father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed had formed an unprecedented alliance with the BJP, although the ideologies of both were completely different from each other.
However, the PDP-BJP government could not complete its term as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) withdrew its support to the PDP in 2018. The erstwhile state has been under central rule since then.
