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Congress, NC set to form first elected govt in Jammu and Kashmir since 2018
NC won 42 seats and its coalition partner Congress six. The CPI(M) won one seat, the BJP 29 seats and the Peoples Democratic Party three
The National Conference-Congress alliance is set to form the new government in Jammu and Kashmir after the combine secured 49 seats of the 90 assembly constituencies, results declared on Tuesday showed.
This will be the first elected government after 2018 when governor’s rule was imposed in J&K after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) withdrew support from then chief minister Mehbooba Mufti’s administration. It will also be the first elected government after Article 370 of the Constitution was abrogated and the region turned into a Union territory.
According to Election Commission data, the NC won 42 seats and its coalition partner Congress six. The CPI(M) won one seat, the BJP 29 seats and the Peoples Democratic Party three.
In terms of vote share, the NC secured 23.43%, the Congress 11.97%, the BJP 25.64% and the PDP 8.87% of votes.
Former J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah thanked the people of Budgam, one of the two constituencies he contested and won, after collecting his winning certificate. “From past five years efforts were made to finish Jammu and Kashmir National Conference. Many political parties were established to finish National Conference. They got wiped off themselves and have no address now,” Abdullah said.
He added that the party will work over the next five years in government to make good on the “responsibility given to us by the people”.
NC president Farooq Abdullah, while thanking the people for giving his party a thumping mandate, said his son Omar will lead the new government.
According to people aware of the matter, the Congress and NC leadership could meet in Srinagar on Wednesday to stake claim to form the new government in J&K.
PDP president Mehbooba Mufti, whose party won three of the 71 seats it contested, said the vote was for a stable government. “I congratulate the people of J&K for voting for a stable government, otherwise in case of a fractured or mixed mandate, tricks could have been played with us. Now there is no chance to play with this mandate.”
Mufti, whose party was the last to hold a majority in state assembly polls in 2014 and tied up with former rival BJP in a gamble that ended badly, said the PDP will play the role of a constructive opposition.
Omar Abdullah contested from two seats and won both by comfortable margins — 18,485 votes in Budgam and 10,574 votes in Ganderbal.
Congress won six seats, of which five victories were from Kashmir. The party’s J&K unit president Tariq Hameed Karra won from Central Shalteng by 14,395 votes.
“This is a win for the people and a verdict against BJP’s divisive policies and hate politics,” Karra said.
Another partner of the alliance, CPI(M) leader MY Tarigami, won Kulgam seat for the fifth time in a row as he defeated Jamaat-affiliated candidate Sayar Ahmad Reahi by 7,838 votes.
The NC contested 58 seats and the Congress contested 39 seats in J&K — the latter won only one seat from Jammu region, where it contested 29 seats.
The BJP put up a strong performance in Jammu region, where it won 29 constituencies, four more than what it had in 2014.
But its state unit president Ravinder Raina lost from Nowshera, where NC candidate Surinder Kumar Choudhary polled 35,069 votes to Raina’s 27,250.
Peoples Conference (PC) chairman Sajjad Gani Lone won from Handwara by a slim margin of 662 votes. He defeated NC candidate and former minister Chowdry Mohammad Ramzan. The PC lost the remaining 20 seats it contested.
Apni Party president Altaf Bukhari, who was contesting from Chanpora constituency in Srinagar, failed to retain his seat and was defeated by NC candidate Mushtaq Guroo by 5,688 votes.
The party failed to win any of 65 seats it contested in J&K.
The BJP was hopeful that its allies would do well in Kashmir, however, almost all of them lost.
