Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Elections 2024 | Bigger defeat awaits Modi than one faced in LS polls, says Congress

New Delhi: As the campaign drew to a close for the Jammu and Kashmir polls, the Congress on Sunday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has still not answered the most fundamental question as to why he "failed" to restore full statehood to J&K.

The opposition party also claimed that Prime Minister Modi will face a defeat "many orders of magnitude bigger" than the one he faced on June 4 this year when the Lok Sabha poll results were declared.

The intense campaigning for the third and final phase of polling in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections concluded on Sunday evening, with major political parties, particularly the BJP, Congress, NC and PDP, engaging in fierce exchanges over critical issues, including Pakistan, Article 370, terrorism and reservation.

Voting for this crucial phase, covering 40 assembly segments across seven districts -- Jammu, Udhampur, Samba and Kathua in the Jammu region and Baramulla, Bandipora and Kupwara in north Kashmir -- is scheduled for October 1.

In a post on X, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said, "Campaigning has now come to a close in Jammu and Kashmir. The non-biological Prime Minister has still not answered this most fundamental question: why has he failed to restore full statehood to Jammu and Kashmir?" Ramesh said the prime minister has gone around making the "bewildering" claim that only the BJP can return full statehood to Jammu and Kashmir.

"Unsurprisingly, he has taken zero responsibility for the decision to strip J&K of its statehood or to postpone its restoration. In fact, he has gone so far as to evade all accountability for it," Ramesh said.

"On August 5th, 2019, he failed to address the Parliament on this matter. After 2019, the usually jet-setting non-biological divinity failed to visit Jammu until 2022, and the Kashmir Valley until 2024. In the 2024 Lok Sabha election campaign, he gave up to 41 scripted interviews - including with regional publications across the country, but not a single one in Jammu and Kashmir," the Congress general secretary said.

The prime minister thinks himself above accountability to the people, including to the voters of Jammu who have supported him in consecutive elections, Ramesh alleged.

"This time, he'll face a defeat many orders of magnitude bigger than the one he faced on June 4th, 2024," Ramesh said.

This is the first assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir since the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution in August 2019, with the results set to be announced on October 8.