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Ladakh refuses mandate to BJP, elects Shia leader Hanifa Jan
As anticipated amid a protracted agitation over the Sixth Schedule and statehood demand, Independent candidate and prominent Shia leader from Kargil, Mohammad Hanifa Jan, won the strategic Lok Sabha constituency of Ladakh
After two consecutive wins in 2014 and 2019 general elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lost Ladakh Lok Sabha constituency to a prominent Shia leader from Kargil district, Hanifa Jan on Tuesday.
As anticipated amid a protracted agitation over the Sixth Schedule and statehood demand, Independent candidate and prominent Shia leader from Kargil, Mohammad Hanifa Jan, won the strategic Lok Sabha constituency of Ladakh.
The BJP had won the seat twice in the 2014 and 2019 general elections.
The returning officer of Ladakh constituency, Santosh Sukhadeve issued a Certificate of Election to Hanifa Jan declaring him elected by the voters of Ladakh Lok Sabha constituency “to be a member of the House of the People”
Ladakh chief electoral officer Yatin Maralkar also confirmed that Hanifa Jan has been declared winner by the returning officer.
Earlier, Maralkar said, “Independent candidate Mohammad Hanifa Jan is leading with a big margin over his rivals. Only one round of counting, including postal ballots, is left but he is almost certain to win.”
Out of 1,35,524 votes, Hanifa secured 65,259 votes with a vote share of 48.15 % followed by Tsering Namgyal of the Congress with 37,397 votes and 27.59 % vote share and Tashi Gyalson of the BJP with 31,956 votes and 23.58% vote share.
A total of 1,32,614 EVM votes and 2,910 postal votes were polled on May 20. Ladakh had recorded 70% polling that day.
National Conference vice-president and former chief minister Omar Abdullah has already extended greetings to Hanifa Jan. “To @HajiHanifa I’m really very happy for you today. A few months ago, you tasted defeat in the hill council elections & now you will represent Ladakh, especially the marginalised people of Kargil in the Lok Sabha. Your victory cost @JKNC_ its Kargil unit but it was well worth the price.”
Though Ladakh witnessed a triangular contest in the first election since the abrogation of Article 370 and being granted Union Territory status, the prospects of Hanifa Jan, who comes from the Shia Muslim community, always looked brighter as compared to the Congress and BJP candidates Tsering Namgyal and Tashi Gyalson, respectively, both from the Buddhist community.
Leh district has Buddhists in majority and Kargil is dominated by the Shia Muslims. The constituency with 1.84 lakh voters went to the polls on May 20.
To support Hanifa Jan as the consensus candidate from Kargil, the National Conference unit had resigned en-masse.
People in Ladakh are miffed with the BJP over its U-turn on granting constitutional safeguards to the region under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution and statehood. To soothe frayed nerves, the BJP had dropped sitting MP Tsering Namgyal and gave the mandate to Leh hill council chairman Tashi Gyalson.
There has been an increasing demand, across religious lines, for statehood and constitutional guarantees under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution for Ladakh to protect its unique ethnicities, culture, language, environment.
In 2014, BJP candidate Thupstan Chhewang had won the seat followed by party candidate Jamyang Tsering Namgayal in 2019.
The union territory had been rocked by protracted agitations over Sixth Schedule, statehood, additional Lok Sabha constituency, unemployment and a separate public service commission for 66 days this year.
