JK Assembly Election: The campaign for the last phase of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections is over. Voting for the third and last phase in Jammu and Kashmir will be held on October 1, for which the Election Commission has almost completed the preparations. Both BJP and Congress have high hopes in this phase. During the campaign for this phase, there was a round of allegations and counter-allegations between the major parties, especially the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress, National Conference (NC) and People's Democratic Party (PDP) on various issues including Pakistan, Article 370, terrorism and reservation.

Voting on 40 seats

In this crucial phase, voting will be held for a total of 40 seats in seven districts of Jammu division, Jammu, Udhampur, Samba, and Kathua, and Kashmir division's Baramulla, Bandipora, and Kupwara. In this phase, the fate of 415 candidates, including former Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand (Congress) and Muzaffar Beg, is at stake. In the final phase, Jammu district has the highest number of 109 candidates in the fray, followed by Baramulla with 101, Kupwara with 59, Bandipora with 42, Udhampur with 37, Kathua with 35, and Samba district with 32 candidates.

BJP expects more from its previous performance

Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the Bharatiya Janata Party's election campaign. During this, he highlighted the initiatives taken by the party in the last 10 years and accused the opposition of "decades of injustice and historical discrimination". Modi's remarks during an election rally held at MAM Stadium were aimed at boosting support for the BJP in its traditional stronghold. He said that the Union Territory status for Jammu and Kashmir is "temporary" and promised to restore full statehood. The BJP had performed its best in Jammu and Kashmir in the 2014 assembly elections. The party won 18 seats out of four districts of the Jammu division and managed to secure a total of 25 seats in the assembly. The BJP has failed to win any assembly seat in the Kashmir Valley so far.

Congress hopes for a comeback.

On behalf of the Congress, party president Mallikarjun Kharge, former president and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, along with other senior leaders, campaigned intensively. They promised to restore the statehood of Jammu and Kashmir and give a 'people-friendly' government in alliance with the NC. The Congress had a disappointing performance in the 2014 elections. The party did not get a single seat from the districts of the Jammu division. This time the party is hoping for a better performance due to the alleged anti-incumbency wave against the BJP.

The condition of the National Conference and PDP

The NC led by former chief ministers Farooq Abdullah, and Omar Abdullah, and the PDP led by Mehbooba Mufti carried out massive public outreach. Both parties criticized the BJP for the alleged rise in terror incidents in Jammu in the past three years. Omar Abdullah challenged the narrative presented by the BJP, saying it was absolving Pakistan of accountability by blaming the opposition. The PDP had won seven out of 15 seats in north Kashmir in the 2014 assembly elections, while the NC and the Congress had won three and two seats respectively.

The future of many small parties is at stake.

People's Conference chairman Sajad Gani Lone and Awami Ittehad Party chief Sheikh Abdul Rashid, also known as Engineer Rashid, campaigned vigorously in this phase. Both parties are trying to emerge as new regional players in politics. Rashid's party has fielded his brother Khurshid Ahmed from Langate while Lone's party is contesting on two seats. In a new development, Jamaat-e-Islami-backed candidates have entered the fray in some constituencies of North Kashmir, making the election interesting.