- By Mayukh Debnath
- Wed, 09 Oct 2024 01:09 AM (IST)
- Source:JND
J-K Assembly Election 2024: The National Conference-Congress combine, a subset of the anti-BJP INDIA bloc, has emerged victorious in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir by winning a total of 48 seats of the 90 that were up for grabs. Though the Farooq Abdullah-led NC outperformed its ally by a huge margin, reaching the majority mark of 46 seats could not have been possible for the party on its own. The Congress contributed 6 seats to the winning coalition's final tally.
However, the grand old party has lost much grounds in J-K since 2014, when the last Assembly election was held in the erstwhile state of the same name. In the 2014 Assembly polls, Congress had won 12 seats, six more than this time. It's vote share has also witnessed a steep decline this time, with the party getting just 11.97 per cent of the total votes polled. The party had registered a vote share of 18 per cent in the last Assembly election in J-K.
Unlike the Congress, its biggest rival, the BJP managed to improve its performance, though marginally, both in terms of seats and vote share. The saffron party has recorded a vote share of 25.64 per cent and emerged victorious on 29 seats this time. The corresponding figures for 2014 stood at 22.98 per cent and 25 seats. The BJP has also managed to maintain its hold on the Hindu-majority Jammu region, where most of the 43 seats have elected its candidates this time.
J-K ASSEMBLY ELECTION 2024: RESULTS HIGHLIGHT
- The NC has emerged as a force to be reckoned with in J-K by winning 42 of the 90 Assembly seats that went to the polls. It registered a significant improvement as compared to its performance in 2014, when the party won just 15 seats.
- Speaking on his party's spectacular performance, NC Vice President and former J-K CM Omar Abdullah said, "The results that have come out were totally unexpected. We have won more seats than we had anticipated, especially after what happened during the Parliamentary elections... I also believe that the NC has won votes from people who never supported it, but just for the sake of getting rid of BJP and its conspiracies, they decided to give a chance to NC." He had lost the recent Lok Sabha election from Baramulla to Engineer Rashid.
- NC chief Farooq Abdullah has announced that his son Omar will return as the Chief Minister of J-K.
- Mehbooba Mufti's PDP witnessed an embarassing defeat with only three seats making their way to the party's final tally.
- Mehbooba's daughter Iltija Mufti also faced defeat in Bijbehara Assembly constituency. She lost to NC's Bashir Ahmed Shah Veeri by a margin of 9,770 votes.
- BJP's J-K unit chief Ravinder Raina failed to secure victory in the Nowshera constituency, which falls under the Jammu region. He lost to NC's Surinder Kumar Choudhary.
- Omar Abdullah won the Budgam and Ganderbal Assembly seats in Kashmir by big margins. He defeated PDP's Aga Syed Muntazir Mehdi in Badgam with a margin of more than 18,485 votes. In Ganderbal, he defeated PDP candidate Bashir Ahmad Mir by a margin of 10,574 votes.
- The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has opened its account in Jammu and Kashmir by winning the Doda assembly constituency, with AAP candidate Mehraj Malik defeating BJP's Gajay Singh Rana.
- Amid the counting of votes, Union Minister and BJP MP Jitendra Singh said the Congress's performance in J-K was reason enough for his party to feel content. "Our main fight was against Congress and we are content with the fact that the national trend has continued in J&K," he stated.
- Top BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister Amit Shah, projected the violence-free conduct of the Assembly election in J-K as a vindication of the subsequent NDA governments' policies.
- "Some people used to say that if Article 370 is removed, Kashmir will burn. But Kashmir did not burn, Kashmir is blooming beautifully. Our Jammu and Kashmir is coming out of the era of curfew and separatism... We have re-established the spirit and dignity of the Constitution in Jammu and Kashmir," PM Modi said while addressing BJP workers after the announcement of the results.
- He also stressed on the fact that despite losing to NC in terms of seats, the BJP recorded the largest vote share this time at 25.64 per cent. "The people of Jammu and Kashmir gave the mandate to the NC alliance, I congratulate them too. If we look at the vote share percentage, BJP has emerged as the biggest party in Jammu and Kashmir," he said.
- "There was only reign of terror in J&K under Congress rule, but festival of democracy was celebrated in a big way under BJP rule," Shah was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
(With inputs from agencies)