Jammu and Kashmir seems to he heading towards yet another spell of coalition rule — though with new partners — after the result of the seven-phase election to the 87-member state Assembly election gave a split verdict today.
Although the National Conference led by Omar Abdullah emerged as the single largest party by winning 28 seats from all the three regions — Kashmir, Jammu and Ladakh — it has lost most of its traditional strongholds to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), led by Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and daughter Mehbooba Mufti, in Kashmir.
The NC camp, however, has reasons to celebrate since both Omar Abdullah and Farooq Abdullah won win their respective seats. Farooq had contested from two seats — Hazratbal and Sonwar —while Omar wrested Ganderbal from the PDP.
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The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has won 11 seats — all in the Jammu region, thanks to the two month-long agitation on the Amarnath land controversy in the area, is the biggest gainer of the result. However, the Congress party, which was faced with both anti-incumbency as well as political backlash for its inability to resolve the Amarnath controversy, managed a poor show with 16 seats, mostly in the Jammu region.
The elections have shown the PDP’s emergence as a strong alternative political party in Kashmir, although it has won bulk of its seats from the South Kashmir region, which is home to the Muftis. Both Mehbooba and Mufti Sayeed won from Wachi and Anantnag with huge margins.
The election results have also explained the surprisingly higher voter turnout in the Kashmir region. Now, it appears that the Assembly constituencies which had registered a dramatically higher percentage chose the PDP while those with low voter turnout opted for the National Conference.
Ladakh, which has four seats in the state Assembly, apparently rejected the votaries of the Union Territory status. The Ladakh Union Territory Front, which had fielded four candidates, lost on three seats, conceding two seats to the NC and one to the Congress.
The hung verdict leaves scope for the Congress to play the role of the kingmaker as the BJP has been virtually declared an “untouchable” by all the key contenders for power.
