With the election dates announced for Jammu & Kashmir, frantic political activity has begun in the state. This will be the first election after the abrogation of special status.

The founder of the J&K Apni Party has joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), while there are unconfirmed reports of Ghulam Nabi Azad making a gharwapsi to the Congress.

Can the opposition form a united bloc against the BJP, or will the National Conference (NC) and Congress at least continue with their Lok Sabha alliance in the state elections? Or, will all the four main parties go it alone? The answer to this question will determine the course of these elections.

In the last three polls in the state, no party secured a simple majority of its own. In 2002, the Congress and the People's Democratic Party (PDP) joined hands post-poll to form a government. In 2008, the Congress backed the National Conference in a post-poll arrangement. In 2014, the PDP and the BJP came together to provide a government for the people of J&K.

Quadrangular contests have made it tricky for any party to cross the halfway mark. The structure of the assembly is such that it makes it difficult for any party to win. Pre-delimitation, the Kashmir valley had 46, Jammu 37, and Ladakh four seats.

In Kashmir,........

© NDTV