In a much-anticipated election held after a decade — that saw over 63% of electorates exercising their franchise, the National Conference (NC) and Congress alliance is all set to form the government in Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory after securing 48 seats out of 90 assembly seats.
Of these, NC won 42, and 6 went to Congress. "Omar Abdullah will be the J&K Chief Minister," senior NC leader and former chief minister Farooq Abdullah told reporters soon after results were declared on Oct 8.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 29 seats — all from the Jammu region and failed to secure even a single seat in Kashmir. Pertinently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah held rallies in Jammu and Srinagar separately to woo the voters during poll campaigning but this failed to impress voters in the Kashmir region, where BJP had fielded candidates in selected constituencies.
A scion of the influential Abdullah clan in Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdullah, faced a battle of prestige in the Assembly polls.
Securing an impressive victory in Budgam and Ganderbal — the two seats that he contested — the third-generation politician is set to become the next Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and carry on his family’s legacy.
Just a few months ago, Abdullah, despite his privileged pedigree, endured an embarrassing defeat in the Lok Sabha elections.
After winning from both segments, defeating his closest rivals from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) by over 10,000 and 18,000 votes, respectively, junior Abdullah said that numerous attempts were made to destroy his party over the past five years by establishing new factions.
"There were attempts to destroy the NC over the last five years. So many parties were created here, whose only aim was to destroy the NC. But by God's grace those who tried to destroy us have been decimated in the process," he told reporters after receiving his victory certificate from the returning officer for the Budgam seat.
"I am thankful to the voters for their support in making me successful and allowing me to serve the people of J&K once again," he added. With the alliance partners crossing the 46-seat majority mark, Farooq Abdullah, and his son Omar Abdullah greeted supporters.
“No one can deny that people of Jammu and Kashmir have shown love to the National Conference, and whatever that was left made up by our alliance partners,” PTI quoted Omar as saying.
The assembly elections in the J&K UT were held in three phases — Sep 18, Sep 25, and Oct 1. This is also the first time Jammu and Kashmir had assembly elections since Article 370 was abrogated in Aug 2019, which divided the erstwhile state into the UTs of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) secured three seats. Seven Independents emerged victorious while the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) made a surprise debut winning its first-ever seat in the UT in the Doda assembly constituency.
The elections resulted in voter participation of 63.88%, according to the Election Commission of India. The counting of votes began on Oct 8 at 8 am amid heavy security arrangements in place.
Some upset with result
After losing the Nowshera seat to NC candidate Surinder Choudhary by over 7,000 votes, BJP Jammu and Kashmir chief Ravinder Raina accepted the defeat.
“I accept the verdict of people. We thank the people for voting and supporting the BJP in Jammu and Kashmir. The BJP has achieved an all-time high with a record number of 29 assembly seats. We express our heartfelt gratitude to the electorate,” Raina said in a statement.
Calling the loss in Nowshera a “setback”, Raina said that the BJP was still “humbled by the overwhelming result in the elections”.
“The party has also secured the highest vote share in J-K,” he added. Quite contrary to its expectations and huge crowds witnessed in its poll campaign, the PDP won just three seats. Even PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti’s daughter Iitija Mufti, a star campaigner and crowd-puller also lost elections from the Srigufwara constituency.
With the National Conference-Congress alliance in Jammu and Kashmir in the lead, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti said that the Centre should take a lesson from the decisive verdict and “not meddle” in the affairs of the upcoming government in the Union Territory.
“I congratulate the NC leadership for its spectacular win. I also want to congratulate the people of J-K for voting for a stable government and not a hung assembly because the people faced several problems, especially after August 5, 2019. A stable and strong government is very important for the redressal of those problems,” PTI quoted PDP chief Mufti as saying.
Engineer Rashid’s Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) which has made a resounding impact in Lok Sabha elections in May and Rashid won the Baramulla parliamentary seat by over two lakh votes defeating former chief minister,
Omar Abdullah and Peoples Conference, chief Sajad Lone while in jail then, secured a single win. AIP had fielded candidates on 35 assembly seats.
Rashid’s brother Khursheed Sheikh won from the Langate constituency.
Rashid, who was arrested in 2019 in connection with a terror funding case and granted bail to campaign in the assembly polls, attracted good crowds to his rallies.
Likewise, former J&K chief minister GN Azad’s Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Progressive Azad Party failed to open its account. At least 10 candidates backed by the Jamaat-e-Islami had entered the fray as Independents but lost the elections.
Results almost as per exit polls
The exit polls predicted that no party may cross the 46-seat majority mark in the 90-member House. However, four pollsters — Dainik Bhaskar, India Today – C-Voter, Peoples Pulse, and Axis My India — gave the edge to the Congress-NC alliance, projecting at least 35 seats for the alliance.
This was followed by the BJP predicted to win at least 20 seats, and the PDP with 4-7 seats. The exit polls also showed two broad trends — the near decimation of the PDP, and the BJP managing to hold on to its seats in the Jammu region.
