NC stages comeback in Kashmir, BJP retains seats in Jammu, Ladakh regions

After a whitewash in 2014, the National Conference won all three seats in Kashmir Valley while the BJP retained the seats in Jammu and Ladakh regions and the Peoples Democratic Party faced a rout in Jammu and Kashmir.

The results of six Lok Sabha seats could set a trend for the assembly elections which could be held any time in the coming months.

National Conference managed to bag all three seats in Kashmir Valley – Baramulla, Srinagar and Anantnag, while BJP won from Jammu, Udhampur and Ladakh seats. In 2014 too, the BJP had won these three seats, while the PDP bagged three Valley seats.

National Conference president and former J&K chief minister, Farooq Abdullah won the prestigious Srinagar Lok Sabha seat by a comfortable margin of 70 thousand votes. Abdullah bagged 106731 votes while his nearest rival PDP candidate managed Syed Mohsin secured a mere 36,705 votes.

The NC had lost the Srinagar seat to PDP in 2014. However, after PDP MP, Tariq Karra resigned and joined Congress, Abdullah managed to win the seat in the bye- election held in 2017.

From Baramulla Lok Sabha seat, NC candidate, Mohammad Akbar Lone secured 131869 votes while Peoples Conference candidate, Raja Ajaz Ali got 102212. Surprisingly, independent candidate and former assembly member Langate, Engineer Shiekh Rashid polled more than one lakh votes.

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In Anantnag, NC’s greenhorn Justice (retd) Husnain Masoodi defeated two stalwarts – PDP president Mehbooba Mufti and J&K Pradesh Congress president Ghulam Ahmad Mir. Masoodi got 40032 votes while Mir and Mufti bagged 32879 and 30223 votes respectively.

Farooq Abdullah said that people voted the NC to represent the state in Parliament. “It is not easy to be in Parliament. We have critical issues related to Jammu and Kashmir because their intention is to do away with Article 370 and 35 A. We have to fight with them on these issues.’’

Abdullah said that they will fight against the agenda of dividing Muslims and Hindus in the country. “This country belongs to everybody- Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians. We will have to keep this country on the same secular path which is enshrined in its Constitution and have to save the Constitution.’’

Union Minister in PMO, Jitendra Singh sealed victory in Udhampur over Congress candidate Vikramaditya Singh after he secured 711199 votes to take a massive lead over his rival who got 365443votes. This is second Jitendra Singh’s consecutive win from Udhampur.

In the Jammu Lok Sabha seat, BJP candidate Jugal Kishore romped home with 830861votes while his Congress rival Raman Bhalla got 546403 votes.

BJP also managed to win the lone seat in Ladakh. Its candidate Jamyang Tsering Namgyal secured 38338 votes against 29004 of independent candidate Sajjad Hussain who was supported by NC and the PDP. The Congress which contested five seats in Jammu and Kashmir couldn’t win a single seat.

BJP state general secretary, Ashok Kaul said that they had already predicted that party will win three seats in the state.

“People of the state have reposed faith on us. We are hopeful that in assembly elections the party will do well,” he said adding that time will also come when people in the Valley will also help BJP to win seats.

PDP youth president, Waheed ur Rehman Parra said that people were angry with his party for allying with the BJP. “Also the places which were our bastion witnessed complete boycott. We have learned our lessons and will do better in assembly polls.’’

Political analyst, Gowhar Geelani said the results of the Lok Sabha seats possibly signify that in the coming assembly elections people could vote on similar lines while BJP will benefit in Jammu region and NC could replace PDP in Kashmir. “It’s a going to be replica of old mandate that Kashmir and Jammu regions will vote differently.’’

First Published:
May 23, 2019 17:50 IST

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