Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to give a boost to the Bharatiya Janta Party's (BJP) campaign for Jammu and Kashmir assembly polls with three rallies next week.
Modi is likely to address two rallies in Jammu and one in Kashmir, according to the reports. The PM is likely to visit the Union Territory (UT) after September 8.
Polling to elect 90 members of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly will be held in three phases on September 18, 25, and October 1. This will be first assembly poll being held in Jammu and Kashmir in ten years. The results will be declared on October 8.
One of the three scheduled rallies will be held in Doda, in the Jammu region, which witnessed a series of militant attacks lately. The BJP is hoping to win at least 35 of the 43 seats in Jammu region and thus emerge as a major player in government formation.
In the last assembly elections held in Jammu and Kashmir is 2014, the BJP could win 25 seats in Jammu. The saffron party failed to open account in Kashmir. After delimitation, Kashmir region of the UT has 47 seats.
The BJP did not put up a candidate in any of the three constituencies in Kashmir in the Lok Sabha polls, It however won both seats in Jammu. So far, the BJP has released names of 51 candidates in its four lists for the 90-member Jammu and Kashmir assembly.
Modi's scheduled trip to the UT comes amid reports of resentment within the BJP over ticket distribution. The party is also facing anger in Kashmir division in the run up to assembly polls. The party leaders in Kashmir Valley are unhappy with the leadership for fielding candidates in only eight of the sixteen seats voting in first phase in Kashmir Valley, according to a report.
