Jammu: Claiming that the first phase of polling in Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections indicated that the people wanted the National Conference (NC) out of power, Union Minister of State and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Chaman Lal Gupta on September 18 said that his party has entered into a seat adjustment with the Jammu State Morcha (JSM) to avoid split in "nationalist votes".

"BJP is contesting 57 seats and has left nine seats for JSM for the sole purpose of avoiding a split in the votes of nationalist forces," he told reporters.

Gupta claimed that the first phase of voting indicated that the people wanted the NC out of power because of its "bad governance".

"In the present scenario BJP is all set to win a large number of seats and our party will play a major role in the formation of the new government," he claimed. "We have already predicted a hung Assembly in the state after the polls," he added.

BJP is contesting the present elections with three main objectives of fighting out militancy and bringing peace in the state, removing discrimination against Jammu and Ladakh regions and to formulate people's opinion against "the non-performance of ruling NC", Gupta said.

Accusing NC and Congress of discriminating against the people of Jammu and Ladakh in the past, he said that these parties were responsible for the present state of affairs. Though Gajinder Gadkar Commission had recommended setting up of development boards for these regions long back, NC and congress governments never implemented it.

Lauding people of border districts for showing enthusiasm to cast their votes in the first phase of polling despite pressures and threats, Gupta hoped of people's participation in the remaining phases also.

PTI