More than 40 per cent of the 908 candidates contesting the assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir are Independents, leading to claims that a large number of them have been propped up by the Bharatiya Janata Party to divide votes.
These are the first assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir since the 2019 abrogation of Article 370 and its reorganisation into two Union territories.
The number of assembly seats has also risen from the earlier 87 to 90 -- 47 in the Kashmir Valley and 43 in Jammu -- following a delimitation exercise in 2022.
The high number of Independent candidates in the fray have led to the National Conference, Congress and the People's Democratic Party to allege that they were being supported by "Delhi".
A total 365 candidates have filed their nominations as Independent candidates to contest the three-phase polls.
This is the second highest number of Independents to contest the polls in Jammu and Kashmir. In the 2008 assembly elections, held in the immediate aftermath of the Amarnath land row agitation that left dozens dead and hundreds injured, 468 candidates had contested as Independents.
The total number of candidates this time is also the second highest ever. In 2008, a whopping 1,353 candidates had contested the elections.
In 2014, the last time assembly elections were held in the erstwhile state, 831 candidates had contested the elections.
Of the total, 274 had contested as Independents.
This time, there are 367 candidates for the 43 seats going to the polls in the Jammu division, where the BJP has a strong base, while 541 are slugging it out for 47 seats in the Valley.
On an average, there are five Independent candidates for each of the 47 assembly segments in Kashmir. This number drops to 2.93 per constituency in the Jammu division.
The Sopore assembly segment -- once a hotbed for militancy and the epicentre of election boycott campaigns in Kashmir -- has the highest number of Independent and total candidates.
There are 22 aspirants in the fray, 14 of whom are Independents.
Among the Independent candidates in Sopore are Ajaz Guru, the brother of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.
The Sonawari segment in Bandipora district has 20 candidates in the fray, including 11 Independents. The area has a strong presence of the banned Jamaat-e-Islami.
Amid this glut, there are four constituencies where there are zero Independent candidates. These are Budhal, Kangan, Ramangar and Srigufwara-Bijbehara.
The Srigufwara-Bijbehara seat in Anantnag district has three candidates in the fray, one of them being People's Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti's daughter Iltija Mufti.
Doda West, Nowshera and Ramgarh each have one Independent candidate.
The BJP's Jammu and Kashmir president Ravindra Raina, a frontrunner for the post of chief minister if the saffron party wins the elections, is the candidate from Nowshera.
On the high number of Independent candidates in the fray, Mehbooba said they had been fielded 'by Delhi to divide votes'.
"We have to be together so that the large number of Independents fielded by Delhi does not succeed in dividing the votes," she added.
National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah, who is contesting the polls from the Ganderbal and the Budgam segments, has said Delhi was fielding a large number of Independents against him to muzzle his voice.
"Delhi is not trying to silence any politician in Jammu and Kashmir, especially in Kashmir, as much as they are trying to do with Omar Abdullah," the former chief minister said.
There are 15 candidates in the fray in the Ganderbal segment. Seven of these candidates -- including jailed separatist leader Sarjan Ahmad Wagay alias Barkati who hails from south Kashmir's Shopian district -- are Independents.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge also raked up the issue of an 'unusually high number' of Independent candidates in the fray.
"The Congress and the National Conference are contesting the elections together, which has made the BJP nervous. Now they are trying to break the alliance," he said.
"They are even fielding private players and supporting them indirectly as Independents in an attempt to defeat our candidates. Otherwise, where do they (Independents) get the money from? Who is behind them?" he asked during his visit to Kashmir last week.
The three-phase elections to the 90-member Jammu and Kashmir Assembly will be held on September 18, September 25 and October 1.
The results will be declared on October 8.
