In March 2020, when three former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Ministers were under detention and a majority of political leaders in Kashmir were yet to come to terms with the abrogation of Article 370 in August the previous year, former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader Altaf Bukhari floated the Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party. It comprised several former legislators belonging to the PDP and the Congress.
In a short time, PDP — whose chief Mehbooba Mufti was heading a coalition government with the BJP till 2018 — faced a vertical split and most of its leadership sided with Bukhari. In the Valley, the development was seen as yet another attempt to fragment votes.
Apni Party, that boasted of having over a dozen former MLAs, had the full support of the BJP, but failed to make a mark in its first electoral test — the District Development Council (DDC) elections in 2020. The results of the recent Lok Sabha elections came as another setback. Both its candidates — Zafar Iqbal Manhas from Anantnag-Rajouri and Mohammad Ashraf Mir from Srinagar — lost their deposit. They failed to get leads from any of the 36 Assembly constituencies in their parliamentary seats, not even in the home segments.