With eye on assembly polls, AAP moves to reorganise its J&K unit

NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday dissolved its Jammu and Kashmir unit to revamp its structure with an eye on the assembly election in the Union territory.
The new Jammu and Kashmir unit of AAP will soon be announced, the party’s election in-charge for the union territory Imran Hussain announced on Twitter.
”In view of upcoming elections & completion of delimitation in J&K, AAP is in process of formation of its organisation till village/booth level in J&K,” Hussain, who is also Delhi Food and Civil Supply Minister, said on the microblogging site.
”All current units in Jammu and Kashmir are dissolved with immediate effect. New AAP-J&K organisation will be announced soon,” he added.
In a statement, the party said the decision to dissolve its Jammu and Kashmir unit has been taken as part of its expansion plan across the country.
The party has moved in to restructure its Jammu and Kashmir unit with the election commission setting in motion the process of holding assembly polls in the Union territory.
Earlier this month, the poll panel initiated the revision of electoral rolls following the delimitation exercise in Jammu and Kashmir.
The Election Commission will publish the finalised electoral rolls of Jammu and Kashmir on October 31, the union territory’s first voters’ list after the boundaries of the assembly seats were redrawn in the delimitation exercise.
In a letter to the chief electoral officer of Jammu and Kashmir, the poll panel has given a timeline to complete various activities before the final publication of the electoral rolls on October 31.
Buoyed by its stupendous victory in Punjab assembly polls earlier this year, the Arvind Kejriwal-led party has gone on a drive to expand its base across the country, with a focus on states and UTs that are going to assembly polls in the next two years.
In what was seen as a boost to the party’s expansion plan in Jammu and Kashmir, former state minister Yash Paul Kundal, ex-legislator Balwant Singh Mankotia, DDC member Taranjit Singh Tony and former Congress leader Surinder Singh Shingari joined the AAP in April.
Along with these prominent faces, more than a hundred local leaders including village heads, block development council (BDC) members and district development council (DDC) members also joined the party on April 8.
In May, former State Education Minister Harshdev Singh, who was also National Panthers Party chairman, joined the AAP. Along with him, Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party’s state president Rajesh Pargotra, State Secretaries Gagan Pratap and Purshottam as well as its Delhi unit chief Suresh Dogra also joined the AAP in the presence of the party’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh and other senior leaders on May 7. (AGENCIES)