As ‘proxies’ lose deposit, BJP may change strategy in Assembly poll

Arjun Sharma

Jammu, June 5

The security deposit of all non-BJP candidates that were backed by the saffron party was forfeited in the General Election. This has led to a buzz inside the party’s Jammu and Kashmir unit that a new strategy would have to be formed for the Assembly poll, which are expected to be held by September.

The BJP was banking on smaller parties, including Apni Party and the Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP), whose candidates were also termed as proxies of the BJP by opposition leaders. While the BJP initially kept its support behind the curtains, it came out in the open in the later stage of election.

Many opposition leaders had claimed that the BJP backed candidates of non-BJP parties to create vote division in constituencies of Kashmir as well as in the Udhampur seat of Jammu division.

In Anantnag, Apni Party’s Zafar Iqbal Manhas and DPAP’s Mohammad Saleem Paray lost their security deposit. While the BJP did not field a candidate from the constituency, it openly supported the Apni Party candidate and urged the Pahari-speaking community to vote for him. Paray also termed as a BJP proxy, was also not able to make any difference. Manhas got 13.86 per cent votes whereas Paray got 2.49 per cent votes.

According to EC’s rules, a candidate has to get at least one-sixth of the total votes polled in a constituency to get back their security deposit. A general category candidate has to deposit Rs 25,000 as security to contest Lok Sabha poll.

In Srinagar, Apni Party’s Mohammad Ashraf Mir got 9.77 per cent votes, while DPAP’s Amir Ahmad Bhat got only 2.24 per cent votes.

In Udhampur, Congress candidate Choudhary Lal Singh contested against BJP’s sitting MP – Jitendra Singh, who won the poll. DPAP’s candidate GM Saroori, who was being termed as a vote divider especially in the Muslim belt, got a meager 3.56 per cent votes. Muslim dominated areas of Kishtwar, Doda, Ramban significantly voted for Congress candidate as he got 40.11 per cent votes.

BJP insiders say as the smaller parties were not able to make much difference during the Lok Sabha poll, it is likely that there will be a shift in the party’s strategy for Assembly elections.