In Kashmir, National Conference (NC) vice-president Omar Abdullah is contesting in two seats – Ganderbal and Budgam. J&K Congress chief Tariq Hameed Karra is also in the fray from the Central Shalteng seat, where Lok Sabha Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi campaigned on Monday.

However, a day before polling, Omar’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) rival in Budgam, Aga Muntazir Mehdi, accused the NC of “illegal distribution of money” in the constituency. Mehdi also alleged that his supporters are being “threatened” and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti urged the Election Commission (EC) to step in. “Disturbing reports about money being distributed to buy votes in Budgam and Ganderbal. Urge (EC) to impress upon police and local administration to stop these electoral malpractices. We’ve seen how brazen rigging of the 1987 election plunged J&K into turmoil,” Mufti said on social media.

Apni Party leader Altaf Bukhari is contesting in Srinagar’s Channapora, while BJP state unit chief Ravinder Raina is seeking re-election from the Nowshera seat in Jammu.

In the 2014 Assembly polls, in the 15 second phase seats in Kashmir, the PDP won eight and the NC won seven, including Abdullah’s Beerwah seat, in the pre-delimitation configuration. The People’s Democratic Front also won a seat.

In Jammu, of the 11 seats in this phase, two were previously held by the PDP, three by the BJP and one by the Congress. However, three new constituencies carved out of existing Assembly segments – Budhal, Thannamandi and Shri Mata Vaishno Devi seats – will elect representatives for the first time.

For the NC, the Ganderbal seat holds significance since three generations of the Abdullahs have represented the constituency in the J&K Assembly. Former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah is once again in the fray from the family bastion, as well as from Budgam. He has, however, lost the seat once to the PDP in 2002. In the last Assembly election, Omar did not contest the seat.

Meanwhile, for the PDP that had won five out of the eight Assembly segments in Srinagar in the 2014 elections, there is tough competition on the ground from the NC. Additionally, with the entry of several Independents, the seats in this phase have witnessed high-intensity campaigns, including a keenly watched pitch for Zadibal by former mayor Junaid Azim Mattu. Formerly with the Apni Party, Mattu is contesting his first Assembly election.

In the Kangan Assembly seat in the Ganderbal district, which recorded a 78% turnout in 2014, NC MP Mian Altaf’s son Mian Mehar Ali is representing the fourth generation of his family to contest the seat.

In Jammu, the BJP’s J&K president Ravinder Raina, former ministers Chowdhary Zulfikar Ali, Shabir Ahmed Khan and Syed Mushtaq Bukhari are among key candidates that are in the fray for 11 assembly constituencies. Of these, six constituencies are ST reserved.

While Bukhari, 75-year-old who ended his four-decade affiliation with NC to join the BJP in 2022, is contesting from the Scheduled Tribe-reserved Surankote seat. Shabir Khan, a former minister, is contesting as a Congress candidate in the ST-reserved Thannamandi seat against Zulfikar Ali, a former minister who was elected twice as PDP nominee in 2008 and 2014 but has since joined the BJP.