Politics

Vote Share of National parties surges in Kashmir

Regional parties fair badly, loses vote share

May 24, 2019

Vote Share of National parties surges in Kashmir

The vote share of both the National political parties has risen in the Jammu and Kashmir in comparison to 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

The top brass of the National Conference in Kashmir valley may have been celebrating the victory of all three party candidates in Lok Sabha polls but a closer look at the voting share accumulated by the party candidates clearly reveal a different picture.

Between 2014 and 2019, the total vote share of the party slipped from 19.11 per cent to merely 7.88 per cent.

Ironically, despite garnering 19.11 per cent votes in 2014 party had failed to bag any seat but this time party had managed to win all three Lok Sabha seats in Kashmir valley.

The biggest upset in the state was recorded on Anantnag seat where PDP Chief, Mehbooba Mufti, faced humiliating defeat. Mehbooba had never lost an election in her two-decades-long political career.

In case of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mehbooba Mufti has to deal with much more precarious situation ahead of the Assembly polls in the state.

Her party’s’ vote share witnessed a sharp decline of 18 per cent.

In 2014 PDP had garnered a total vote share of 20.5 per cent while on Thursday as PDP failed to open its account in Kashmir valley its vote share dropped to 2.39 per cent.

In 2009, PDP had secured a vote share of 22.36 per cent.

In comparison to this, the vote share of both the National political parties has risen in the state in comparison to 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

Congress party may have also failed to win even a single Lok Sabha seat but party’s total vote share increased from 22.9 per cent to 28.66 per cent.

In 2009, Congress had secured 24.67 per cent of the votes in the state.

The giant killer, BJP, which managed to retain all three Lok Sabha seats it won in 2014 improved its tally from 32.4 per cent to 46.2 per cent in 2019.

In 2009 Lok Sabha poll, the BJP’s vote share was 18.61 per cent.

In Jammu region, party candidates scripted history.

Sitting MoS PMO Dr Jitendra Singh, contesting from Udhampur-Doda seat defeated his nearest rival, Vikramaditya Singh, joint candidates of Congress and National Conference by a margin of over 3.57 votes while BJP candidate from Jammu Poonch Lok Sabha seat, Jugal Kishore Sharma, improved his performance by handing over crushing defeat to his nearest rival from the Congress party Raman Bhalla by a margin of over 2.89 lakh votes.

In Jammu region, BJP clearly established a lead on 27 out of 37 Assembly seats while Congress party managed to maintain leads across 10 Assembly segments.

In the cold desert region of Ladakh, BJP’s Jamyang Tsering Namgyal won the seat by a margin of over 10,000 votes. Namgyal secured 42,914 votes while Sajjad Hussain could secure 31,984 votes only.

However, the biggest upset in the state was recorded on Anantnag seat where PDP Chief, Mehbooba Mufti, faced humiliating defeat. Mehbooba had never lost an election in her two-decades-long political career.

In Srinagar, 83 years old Dr Farooq Abdullah won Srinagar seat, for the fourth time, by a margin of over 70,000 votes. He defeated PDP’s rival candidate Aga Syed Mohsin.

In Anantnag, National Conference candidate, Justice (Retd) Hasnain Masoodi defeated JKPCC Chief, GA. Mir, his nearest rival of Congress party, by a margin of over 6,000 votes. Mehbooba Mufti stood third by securing 30,524 votes.

In Baramulla, senior party leader and former Speaker Mohammad Akbar Lone defeated his nearest rival Raja Aijaz Ali of the People’s Conference (PC), led by Sajjad Lone.

Out of the total 4,57,931 votes polled, Lone, who hails from Naidkhai village of Bandipora district and represented Hajin segment as an MLA, had got a total 1,31,869 votes, while Aijaz Ali got a total of 1,02,212 votes. Independent candidate Engineer Rashid stood third with 1,00,042 votes.

Since 1977, the Baramulla Parliament seat has been lost by the National Conference only in 2014.

During the 2014 poll, senior PDP leader Muzaffar Hussain Beg had defeated NC leader and then incumbent MP Sharif-Ud-Din Shariq by over 29,000 votes. However, this time, the PDP failed miserably in north Kashmir and was relegated to the fourth position with its candidate Abdul Qayoom Wani, a former trade union leader, managing only 52,766 votes.

In 2014, PDP had got 1,75,277 votes out of the total 4,66,039 votes polled in the Baramulla constituency, spread over three districts of Baramulla, Bandipora and Kupwara, whereas NC had got 1,46,058 votes.

Note:
1. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of PGurus.