Although elections for the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly are being held after a gap of ten years, the ongoing election process is witnessing the absence of three former chief ministers – Dr. Farooq Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti, and Ghulam Nabi Azad – from the electoral arena.

Omar Abdullah is the only former chief minister who is contesting the polls this time. He had earlier announced that he won’t be contesting the election that is going to produce a chief minister with truncated powers in the Union Territory (UT) but has surprisingly taken a U-turn this week and announced his candidature from the family’s traditional Ganderbal constituency.

Omar had earlier said that he wouldn’t like to become the chief minister of a UT or half-baked state in which he has to seek the permission of the lieutenant governor even for the appointment of his peon.

The National Conference (NC) president and three-time CM, Dr. Farooq Abdullah, who was instrumental in clinching a seat-sharing deal with Congress, had announced that he would, this time, contest the Assembly elections and then resign to make place for his son Omar Abdullah when J&K attains full statehood. But the situation has changed with Omar making a somersault on the issue.

This is for the first time that Dr. Farooq Abdullah is neither an MP nor contesting the Assembly elections. He was earlier dislodged by not giving him a ticket to contest the recent Lok Sabha election for the Srinagar seat that he was representing at that time.

Instead of the NC’s traditional Srinagar Lok Sabha seat, Omar opted for Baramulla in the recent election and lost. Political circles believe his decision not to contest the Assembly elections had been reversed mainly due to his defeat from Baramulla.

Ghulam Nabi Azad, suddenly moving out of J&K amidst the peak of the campaign, has surprised political circles. Azad, who formed the Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) with all fanfare after quitting Congress, came to be identified as a ‘B-team’ of the BJP and his candidates in the Lok Sabha elections forfeited their security deposit.

Mehbooba Mufti, who became chief minister of the PDP-BJP coalition government in 2016, has also decided to keep away from the contest and has fielded her daughter Iltija Mufti from her traditional Bijbehara seat in south Kashmir. She also lost the recent Lok Sabha elections from the Anantnag seat.

Giving the reason for not contesting the elections, Mehbooba said under the present system, she won’t be in a position to fulfill her party’s agenda if she becomes the chief minister.

“I have been chief minister of a government with the BJP which revoked FIRs against 12,000 persons in 2016. Can we do that now? I, as the chief minister of a government with PM Modi, wrote a letter to separatists to invite them for talks. Can you do that today? I got a ceasefire implemented on the ground. Can you do that today? If you cannot take back an FIR as Chief Minister, what does one do with such a post?” she said.

However taking a dig at Mehbooba, Omar told newsmen on Thursday that those criticising his decision to join the poll fray should look into their own house first. “If you are against the present system, you have to stand by that. What is the fun in pushing your close relative in the poll process and standing yourself away,” he said in an obvious reference to the PDP chief whose daughter is contesting from the Bijbehera Assembly seat.