The move of the central government to extend the tenure of the Delimitation Commission chief has sparked rumors of further delay in holding the assembly elections. This has naturally evoked anger among the regional parties who have been pushed into a corner in all-out assault by the BJP led by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the party’s allies in the state. In a meeting, the centre extended the duration of the commission by another year. The UT administration has already argued that due to the circumstances in Kashmir especially, it won’t be a good idea to hold the elections very soon. The mainstream has been advocating early polls so that an elected government can assume office in the UT. While the reasons cited by the UT administration for delaying elections seem to be fair enough, the regional parties are accusing the BJP led Centre of undermining democracy in the state. They argue that the BJP wants to rule the state directly through the Lieutenant Governor instead of having an elected government which may not work according to the ruling party’s whims and desires. The regional parties also fear that the BJP may try to engineer defections in the existing parties while strengthening its allies like Apni Party and other regional players ahead of the assembly elections. It is true that the manner in which the BJP treated its former ally PDP has left little scope for any regional party to ally with the Hindu nationalists. But Apni Party has taken the bait. By backing new formations and targeting the ‘dynastic’ parties like National Conference and Peoples Democratic Party, the BJP has made its intentions clear about how the political landscape of Jammu and Kashmir is going to shape up in coming months and years. If the party manages to repeat its 2014 J&K assembly elections performance in Jammu, there is every possibility of regional player allying with it. The party is trying hard to strengthen its new allies in Kashmir who may help it in coming to power for the second time in the Muslim majority region. However, while all this may sound ominous for the regional parties, the fact that the summer is coming up and snow will melt along the border will keep security agencies on toes. In such a situation, it would be hard to decide the future course of action.