Had May 16 been the day of declaration of assembly elections results, the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would have formed a government with ease.
Out of the 44 assembly segments in the Valley, the PDP has registered victory in 38 segments, which could have easily been transformed into 38 seats if it were the assembly elections. The state assembly has 87 seats and PDP's 38 would have just been a seat less than the magic halfway figure of 44.
The National Conference (NC), however, has won in four assembly segments, while former separatist Sajad Lone's People Conference (PC) and the Awami Itehad Party have won in one segment each.
As the party which was formed 12 years back opened an account in Jammu region with 1,68,554 votes and emerged number three. Given the significant vote share, the votes can easily mean seats in Muslim dominated places like Rajouri, Poonch.
Making inroad into Jammu is significant development for the PDP, which has potential to emerge a single largest party to form a government on its own.
Acknowledging the new trend, party president Mehbooba Mufti said: "We have emerged as a pan regional party with Jammu also voting for us significantly."
The figures are certainly disturbing for the NC, as the PDP has made inroads into its stronghold by registering massive victories in key segments like Ganderbal, which is represented by chief minister Omar Abdullah; Hazratbal segment, represented by his uncle Mustafa Kamal; Mian Altaf's traditional Gujjar support base in Kangan; and senior leader Abdur Rahim Rather's Chrar-e-Sharief.
{{/usCountry}}The figures are certainly disturbing for the NC, as the PDP has made inroads into its stronghold by registering massive victories in key segments like Ganderbal, which is represented by chief minister Omar Abdullah; Hazratbal segment, represented by his uncle Mustafa Kamal; Mian Altaf's traditional Gujjar support base in Kangan; and senior leader Abdur Rahim Rather's Chrar-e-Sharief.
{{/usCountry}}Notably, the PDP has made inroads in pockets where people have traditionally voted for the NC.
Even in Sopore assembly segment, where less than 1% people voted, 535 votes went to the PDP, while the NC managed to get just 272.
The Ganderbal segment, which is considered as the most prestigious for Omar, saw 13,220 votes for and 10,307 against his favour.
Even in three of the four assembly segments, where the NC emerged as winner, the PDP got a considerable vote share: in Khanyar, the PDP managed over 1,500 votes as compared to the NC's 3,245.
Amira Kadal saw a close fight between the NC and the PDP, which got got 2,938 and 2,615 votes, respectively.
Uri also saw a neck-to-neck battle between PDP and the NC, which recorded 16,291 and 18,893 votes, respectively.