DDC polls: BJP retains majority in Jammu region
The People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) under the chairmanship of Farooq Abdullah is headed for a clear victory in Kashmir Valley while the BJP, with running an aggressive star studded election campaign in the region, is hoping to retain majority seats in its strong bastion across Jammu province to wield control over the newly elected District Development councils.
The PAGD had fought the entire election on the plank of restoring Statehood and the special status of the erstwhile State of Jammu & Kashmir.
According to the latest trends available on the website of the Chief Electoral Officer of Jammu & Kashmir, out of 280 seats the election results of 226 seats were declared till late evening while counting was still going on the rest of the seats. As per the result tally, the PAGD won 92 seats while BJP was second at 64 and Congress party was trailing with 20 seats in its kitty at number three slot in the overall tally. On its own the NC had won 53 seats, JKPDP 25, CPI(M) 5, JKPC 6 and JKPM 3.
Former BJP Minister and party vice president Shakti Raj Parihar earned a unique distinction of losing both the seats at the hands of the National Conference and Congress candidates.
Two other former BJP legislators Prof Garu Ram and Sham Lal Choudhary in Jammu, however, managed to win their seats from RS Pura and Suchetgarh constituencies respectively.
Parihar lost Gundana seat at the hands of NC candidate Asim Hashmi while he lost Marmat seat at the hands of Congress candidate Mushtaq Ahmad.
Voting was held in 280 seats - 14 in each of the 20 districts of the Union Territory -- in eight phases over a period of 25 days between November 28 to December 19.
Reacting to the election results, Vice President of the National Conference and former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said, “The trends that have emerged in the DDC polls in J&K are very encouraging for the JKPAGD. The BJP had made this election a prestige issue about Article 370 & J&K’s special status. The people have now spoken & it’s for those who believe in democracy to pay heed to these voices”.
Omar also asserted, “The @JKPAGD is an alliance that emerged out of the betrayal of the people of J&K on 5th Aug 2019. We have faced every obstacle - illegal detentions, agency threats & pressures, our candidates were locked up to stop them campaigning & from all this we are emerging victorious”.
Thanking voters, Omar in his last tweet said, “All of us in the JKPAGD are deeply indebted & grateful to the people of J&K for your support at this critical juncture. We reaffirm our commitment to use all democratic & legal weapons at our disposal to continue to fight for our rights”.
BJP, for the first time opened its account in Kashmir Valley in the DDC polls. The party won one seat each in Srinagar, Pulwama and Bandipur.
In Jammu region, the counting trends predicted BJP was all set to win a clear majority across four districts of Jammu region while it failed to woo the electorate across the frontier districts of Rajouri and Poonch.
The BJP was ahead of two seats in Rajouri and failed to open its account in Poonch.
The counting trends in Kishtwar, Doda and Ramban indicated the BJP may find it difficult to win majority seats in the final tally to get its own chairperson in place in the District Development Council.
In Kashmir Valley PAGD is set to install its own chairperson without facing any resistance in 9 out of 10 newly elected District Development councils to further strengthen the grassroot democracy.
Barring Srinagar district where independents are going to be kingmakers, all other nine districts of Kupwara, Baramulla, Budgam, Pulwama, Anantnag, Bandipur, Ganderbal, Shopian and Kulgam are going to elect one of the elected representatives as their chairperson.
Within the PAGD, the oldest regional party headed by Farooq Abdullah enjoys a clear edge over its constituents as its candidates emerged front runner and set to romp home victoriously.
PDP remained front runner on four seats in South Kashmir district of Shopian, 2 in Bandipur, four in Ganderbal, 2 in Baramulla, 1 in Srinagar, and seven in Pulwama. NC was front runner on eight seats in Budgam, 6 in Anantnag, 5 in Bandipora, 5 in Ganderbal, 3 in Shopian, 2 in Pulwama, 1 in Srinagar, 2 in Baramulla and three in Kupwara.
In Jammu region, BJP candidates were front runners on 11 seats in Jammu district, 12 in Samba, 11 in Udhampur and 10 in Kathua till last reports came in. Elections were held across 14 constituencies each in all the districts.
Despite bringing in star campaigners and running an aggressive election campaign the BJP failed to register similar performances in Doda, Ramban and Kishtwar districts of Jammu province. BJP candidates were front runners on six seats in Doda, three in Kishtwar. These two districts fall in the parliamentary segment of MoS PMO Dr Jitendra Singh. The BJP also failed to impress voters in the frontier districts of Rajouri and Poonch as it managed to establish a lead on only two seats in Rajouri. In Reasi district the BJP won four seats while its rival parties secured majority seats.
Commenting on the DDC election results Prof Hari Om told The Pioneer, BJP’s appeasement policy in Kashmir Valley cost it dearly in its core constituency in Jammu. He said, it is for the first time the BJP has won elections in Kashmir Valley and secured three seats but it paid a heavy price by losing more number of seats across Jammu region.
Prof Hari Om also cautioned People’s Alliance for the Gupkar declaration not to interpret the mandate in its favour or compare it with the referendum. Prof Har Om said, only 30 per cent voter turnout was recorded in Kashmir Valley and independent candidates have garnered more votes than regional party candidates on maximum seats. He said Migrant Kashmiri pandits too stayed away from polls.
