Farooq Abdullah, National Conference (NC) president on Saturday asserted that his party would not forge a post-election alliance with the BJP for government formation in Jammu and Kashmir.

The NC president said that they cannot go with the BJP because the vote which they have got is the vote against the BJP. He stated that BJP put the Muslims in difficulties, bulldozed their shops, houses, mosques and schools.

Farooq Abdullah further said that the BJP did not give mandate to even a single Muslim in the Parliamentary election nor is there a single Muslim minister in the Union Cabinet. He added that he thinks that the people of the Union Territory will not vote for the BJP, adding that if BJP think they will form the government, then they live in cuckoo’s world. The NC had on Friday clarified that it was not in touch with any political party other than INDIA bloc constituents for government formation in Jammu and Kashmir.

The party’s clarification followed amid speculation that it was engaged in backchannel deliberations with the BJP for government formation. When asked if Baramulla MP Engineer Rashid, who is on bail, was a factor in the assembly polls, Farooq Abdullah said he does not see any factor. The former Union Minister said that whoever stands with the BJP will be finished. 

Speaking about the chief minister candidate, the NC president said it will be decided after the results are announced. He stated that even if a political party has a full majority, they cannot say who is going to be what, what is going to happen. He added that they will wait till all the boxes are open and votes are counted. On the Haryana Assembly elections, Abdullah said the Congress will win with a majority there, adding that he has seen what people have suffered.

Haryana registered a voter turnout of 22.7 per cent as of 11 am as the state votes to elect 90 legislators in a single-phase Assembly election on Saturday. The voting commenced at 7 am and will continue till 6 pm as the ruling BJP is aiming a hattrick of Assembly Election wins, while the Congress is hoping to return to power after 10 years.  

After four hours of voting, Palwal registered the highest turnout of 27.94%, followed by Jind at 27.20% and Ambala at 25.50%. Meanwhile, Faridabad, Gurgaon, Hisar and Jhajjar recorded lower turnout rates at 20.39%, 17.05%, 24.69% and 23.48% respectively.

Nearly 1,031 candidates in 90 constituencies are voting across 20,632 polling booths. Nearly 20.35 million voters, including more than 1.07 million males, 960,000 females, and 467 third-gender voters are eligible to cast their votes. 

Reportedly, 29,462 police personnel, 21,196 home guards and 10,403 Special Police Officers have been deployed across the state to ensure a smooth voting process. The JJP-ASP alliance is contesting all the seats, with JJP fielding candidates in 70 constituencies and ASP in 20.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday appealed to the people of the state to exercise their voting rights to set a new record. Taking to social media platform, X, he asked all the voters to be a part of this holy festival of democracy and set a new record of voting. He further extended his best wishes to all the young voters of the state who are going to vote for the first time. 

Earlier in the 2019 elections, the BJP won 40 seats and formed a coalition government with JJP, which secured 10 seats. Nonetheless, JJP later left the coalition. The counting of votes for Haryana will be announced on October 8.

With barely a few days left for the single-phase Assembly election in Haryana, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday took a jibe at the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, asking if the Congress leader knows the full form of MSP as he underlined that the BJP government in Haryana was procuring 24 crops at the minimum support price.

Addressing an elections rally in Haryana’s Rewari, Shah also slammed the grand old party on the issue of corruption and reservation.

Taking a swipe at the Congress leader on the farmers’ issue, Shah said some NGO has told Rahul ‘baba’ that by saying MSP (minimum support price) he will get votes.

“Rahul baba, do you know the full form of MSP? Which crop is of Kharif, which one is of Rabi, do you know,” Shah asked.

Asking if Congress-ruled states have bought any crops at MSP specifically Karnataka and Telangana, the senior BJP leader said that the saffron party government in Haryana is procuring 24 crops at MSP.

“Let Congress leaders in Haryana tell which Congress-ruled state procures as many crops,” he said.

Shah said during Congres’s rule, paddy was procured at Rs 1300 per quintal, now it is Rs 2300. He said if the BJP government comes to power again in Haryana, it will procure paddy at Rs 3,100 (per quintal).

Hitting out at Congress, Shah said that Gandhi has no work other than spreading rumors, which is why Haryana has lagged so much. During Congress rule, whenever a CM came, only one district would benefit, and corruption and hooliganism would increase, he added.

“But when BJP came into power, it worked for entire Haryana and ensured the development of all 36 communities. In these 10 years, the BJP has wiped out every trace of corruption from Haryana. Under Congress, the government ran on cuts, commissions, and corruption,” Shah said.

Further attacking the Congress, Shah said it was the Narendra Modi government that fulfilled the long pending demand for “One Rank One Pension”.

“Congress governments used to run on the basis of cut, commission and corruption while dealers, dalals (middlemen) and ‘damads’ used to rule. Under BJP government, there are no dealers, ‘dalals’ while there is no question of ‘damad’,” the senior BJP leader said.

Haryana will vote on October 5 and the results will be declared on October 8.