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NC-Congress alliance appears set to cross majority mark of 46 in J&K
NDTV reported the National Conference-Congress combine was ahead on 50 seats while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was leading on 27 and others eight
The National Conference (NC)-Congress alliance appeared set to cross the majority mark of 46 in Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) even as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, which has indicated support for the combine, was ahead on three seats, early trends suggested.
NDTV reported the NC-Congress combine was ahead on 50 seats while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was leading on 27 and others eight.
The counting of votes earlier began at 8am on Tuesday two days after exit polls suggested the NC-Congress had an edge amid the possibility of a hung House.
The assembly polls in J&K were the first in a decade and also since it lost its semi-autonomous status in August 2019 with the nullification of Constitution’s Article 370. The region also lost its statehood in 2019. The elections were expected to pave the way for the restoration of statehood, which was among the major poll issues.
The polls were held in three phases. Twenty-four seats went to the polls in the first phase, 26 in the second, and 40 in the third. As many as 873 candidates were in the fray for 90 seats.
The election was seen as a direct contest between BJP and NC-Congress combine. The PDP, former minister Sajjad Gani Lone-led People’s Conference, the Apni Party, Engineer Rashid’s Awami Ittehad Party, Jamaat-e-Islami-backed independent candidates, and the Democratic Progressive Azad Party were also in the fray.
Exit polls suggested that the contest was largely between the BJP and the NC-Congress combine. They predicted that the BJP was expected to emerge as the biggest party in the Jammu region. In Kashmir, the NC-Congress alliance was set to emerge ahead of others. The exit polls suggested that the NC-Congress alliance could be close to the majority mark of 46. Some even predicted that it could secure the figure on its own.
Ahead of the counting of the votes, there was much concern over the lieutenant governor’s (LG) powers to nominate five members to the assembly. The NC said it would approach the Supreme Court after a BJP leader suggested the nominated members would come from his party.
The J&K Reorganisation Act passed in 2019 for the constitutional changes in J&K and the amendment in 2023 gave the LG powers to nominate two women, two migrants including a woman, and one member from displaced persons from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The laws are silent on the modalities of the process. It was also unclear whether the five nominees would have voting rights. If the five members have these rights, it will push the halfway mark in the assembly from 46 to 48.
In 2014, the PDP emerged as the single-largest party with 28 seats. It formed an alliance government with the BJP, which had 25 seats. The government collapsed in 2018 after the BJP withdrew support. The governor’s rule was imposed in June 2018 before the Constitutional changes were effected on August 5, 2019, with the revocation of Article 370 and bifurcation of the region.
