AS Dulat examines Farooq Abdullah’s place in Kashmir’s future after the abrogation of Article 370

From 18 September 2024, spread across three phases, Jammu and Kashmir voted in its first assembly elections in a decade. Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar waxed lyrical on the subject, quite literally: “Lambi kataron mein chhupi hai badalte surat-e-haal yani jamhooriyat ki kahani. Roshan ummeedein ab khud karengi gawah apni taqdeer-e-bayani. Jamhooriyat ke jashn mein aapki shirkat duniya dekhegi napak iraadon ke shikasht ki kahani,” he intoned. (These long lines tell the story of changing times and rekindled hopes; your participation in the festival of democracy signals the defeat of those with nefarious intentions.)

Although three Lok Sabha elections, in 2014, 2019 and 2024, were held in Jammu and Kashmir, June 2014 was the last time that Vidhan Sabha elections were held. Apart from the timing, the 2024 elections were significant because they would follow the delimitation process. This involved redrawing the boundaries of parliamentary and assembly constituencies based on population data from the most recent census (2011) to ensure equal representation. Completed in May 2022, this process would increase the total number of seats in the assembly to 114, with 24 seats reserved for Pakistan-administered Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan. The remaining 90 seats would be contested, with 43 in the southern Jammu region and...

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