Ahead of the Assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir, PDP chief spokesperson Suhail Bukhari on Tuesday quit the party.
As per news agency PTI, Bukhari has quit the PDP. However, he hasn’t issued any statement or elaborated over his move.
The report mentioned Bukhari was apparently miffed at not being given the mandate to contest the upcoming polls. He had hoped to contest the polls from Wagoora-Kreeri, but the return of former minister Basharat Bukhari to the PDP last month diminished his chances of getting the ticket.
Suhail Bukhari, a journalist-turned-politician, was a close aide of PDP president Mehbooba Mufti and had also served as her advisor when she was the chief minister.
Jammu and Kashmir Assembly polls:
According to the Election Commission of India(ECI), the counting of the votes will take place on October 4.
The ECI has directed the enforcement agencies to be impartial and transparent for smooth and fair polling, ensuring a level playing field.
There are a total of 90 assembly constituencies, of which 74 are general, nine are ST, and seven are SC. There are 87.09 lakh total electors, including 44.46 lakh are male, 42.62 lakh are female, 169 are transgender, 82,590 PwDs, 73943 are very senior citizens, 2660 are centenarians, 76092 are service electors, and 3.71 lakh are first-time voters.
Jammu and Kashmir will witness elections after a gap of ten years, as the last assembly election was held in 2014. The PDP-BJP coalition government fell in June 2018 when the latter withdrew support to the then-Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti.
Earlier in December of last year, the Supreme Court had directed the Centre to conclude the election process by September 30, 2024.
