Former chief minister Omar Abdullah on Saturday suggested that the BJP defeat in Karnataka may have closed the door on any immediate elections in Jammu and Kashmir.

“Now there is no way BJP will have the courage to allow Assembly elections to take place in J&K any time soon,” he tweeted.

Assembly elections are long due in Jammu and Kashmir but the central government has desisted from giving the go-ahead, apparently fearing a defeat.

The last Assembly elections were held in 2014. Jammu and Kashmir has had no Assembly since 2018 when the BJP withdrew support to Mehbooba Mufti’s People’s Democratic Party and the House was dissolved.

Mehbooba on Saturday welcomed the Congress victory in Karnataka, which she said had happened despite the BJP unleashing a“most vicious communal campaign”.

“The people of Karnataka have rejected division & bigotry. I hope this is the start of a new beginning for India,” she said.

A disappointed Jammu and Kashmir BJP leadership chose not to react to the Karnataka defeat or the calls for elections in the Union Territory.

The BJP’s national general secretary in charge of Jammu and Kashmir, Tarun Chugh, stressed the so-called “positive change” here following the dilution of Article 370.

“Today there is mutual development of both peace and prosperity in J&K. The proof of peace is that the DDC (District Development Council) and BDC (Block Development Council) elections were successfully held there for the very first time,” Chugh said.

The five-party People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration, fighting for the restoration of Article 370, won the highest number of seats in the DDC elections, held in 2021. It was a signal to the BJP that winning elections in Jammu and Kashmir might not be easy despite the changes made since 2019.

The BJP leadership had promised to give Jammu and Kashmir its first Hindu chief minister. In 2021, the Delimitation Commission proposed six new legislative seats for Hindu-majority Jammu and one for Muslim-majority Kashmir, deepening fears among Kashmiris that the BJP was bent on changing the region’s demography.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had during an all-party meeting with Jammu and Kashmir politicians in 2021 favoured early competition of the delimitation, promising the return of statehood after Assembly elections were held.

Several Valley politicians on Saturday repeated their calls for elections.

“Elections in Jammu and Kashmir must not be delayed any further as the voice of the people deserves to be heard,” Altaf Bukhari, who heads the BJP-friendly Apni Party, said.