Having been left rudderless after Ghulam Nabi Azad decided to skip the crucial assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir on “health grounds”, at least four official candidates of his Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) have withdrawn their nomination papers.

All four candidates had filed their papers from parts of Azad’s home turf in the Chenab Valley, formerly the Doda district. Azad had reportedly left suddenly for New Delhi, giving his party candidates the option to contest the election based on their personal choice.

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The DPAP had announced six candidates from the Chenab Valley for the 90-seat Assembly election, which will be held in three phases.

Among those who have withdrawn from the electoral race is Azad’s trusted lieutenant and former advocate general Mohammad Aslam Goni, who had filed his papers for the Bhaderwah constituency.

The three other candidates who have withdrawn are Fatima Begum (Inderwal), Girdhari Lal Bhau (Ramban), and Asif Ahmed Khanday (Banihal). Fatima Begum’s withdrawal has left the field open in Inderwal for GM Saroori, a senior DPAP functionary who has filed his papers as an independent. Saroori had badly lost in the recent Lok Sabha election from the Udhampur constituency.

The only two DPAP candidates remaining in the fray are Abdul Majeed Wani, who won the Doda seat twice on a Congress ticket in 2002 and 2008 and was subsequently made a minister after winning the elections, and Abdul Gani (Doda West) who has also decided to contest the polls.

Earlier, there was speculation about Azad rejoining the Congress party, but a DPAP spokesman denied these as “rumours”.

It is worth mentioning that two years after founding the DPAP, Azad’s many of Azad’s trusted leaders have returned to Congress, leaving him isolated.

Meanwhile, the BJP continues to face a revolt from its senior activists over ticket distribution. It is alleged that the party leadership has preferred to give tickets to “paratroopers” from the Congress, National Conference, and PDP, who joined the BJP and got tickets within two days.

A senior leader, Chander Mohan, who had been with the party for the past five decades, announced his resignation from the BJP on Friday. Another leader, Kashmira Singh, the district BJP president of Samba, has also quit the party with which he was associated for the past 40 years. Singh was displeased with the BJP’s decision to give a ticket to Surjeet Singh Salathia, who recently quit the National Conference to join the BJP.

Sloganeering and protests outside the BJP office here have become a daily routine, causing concern for the party leadership.

On the last date of the withdrawal of nomination papers for the first phase of the forthcoming Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections in the 24 Assembly constituencies, 25 candidates withdrew their candidature on Friday. With this, 219 candidates are now in the fray for the first phase of polling on 18 September.