SRINAGAR: The BJP, which emerged as the second largest party in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly with 25 seats, has received the highest number of votes and vote share in the elections. While, the PDP is the frontrunner for government formation in the state with 28 seats, the NC and the Congress won 15 and 12 seats respectively.
The BJP swept the polls in the Jammu region by winning 25 out of the 36 seats. According to election statistics, the BJP got 11,07,194 votes, wich was the highest among the parties in the state with a vote share of 23 per cent. The PDP, which emerged as the single largest party, is in second position as far as votes polled are concerned. The party got 10,92,203 votes and its vote share was 22.7 per cent.
The NC got 10,00,693 votes and the party’s vote share was 20.8 per cent. The Congress received 8,67,883 votes and the party’s vote share was 18 per cent. Independent candidates received 3,29,881 votes and their vote share was 6.8 per cent. The Jammu-based party JKNPP got 95,941 votes and the party’s vote share wasa paltry two per cent. Separatist-turned-mainstream politician Sajjad Gani Lone’s party the People’s Conference received 93,182 votes and the party’s vote share was 1.9 per cent.
The BSP got 67,786 votes and party’s vote share was 1.4 per cent. The CPM received 24,017 votes and the vote share was 0.5 per cent. CPM state leader Mohammad Yousuf Targami managed to retain his seat in Kulgam by a wafer thin majority.
Only 3 Women MLAs
Only three women candidates -- one each from the PDP, BJP and the NC -- managed to win the elections. At least 29 women candidates had contested the elections. Shamim Firdous of the NC managed to retain the Habba-Kadal seat in Srinagar. Asiya Naqash of the PDP won from Hazartabal constituency in Srinagar.
66 Crorepatis
There are 66 crorepatis among the newly elected legislators.
Altaf Bukhari, a businessmen who won the Amira Kadal constituency on a PDP ticket, is the richest of the lot. At least five newly elected legislators have criminal cases registered against them. Three of them belong to the PDP and one each from the Congress and the NC. PDP’s Asiya Naqash and Mohammad Yousuf Bhat have one criminal case each against them, while party’s Altaf Bukhari has seven such cases registered against him. NC legislator Gulzar Ahmad Wani and Congress legislator and former counter-insurgent Usman Majeed each have a criminal case each registered against them.
JKNPP Draws a Blank
The J&K National Panthers Party (JKNPP) was wiped out by the BJP-wave in the Jammu province.
The party had three legislators in the outgoing Assembly.
None of the party’s 29 candidates, who contested elections, could emerge successful.
It is a big jolt to the party, which was a coalition partner in the 2002 PDP-Congress Government and one of its senior leaders Harsh Dev Singh was minister in the Government led by Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.
In the 2002 elections, the JKNPP had won four seats. At least four journalists had contested the Assembly elections in the state and none of them won.