By IRNA,
Srinagar, India : In an extremely cautious electoral verdict, the masses in Jammu and Kashmir have kept political forces on a tight leash by denying any single party a clear majority, and paved the way for a coalition government in the state for the second time in a row.
The National Conference has emerged as the single largest party in the assembly, more or less retaining the number of seats it had last time with a fresh tally of 28.
The reluctant entry to the poll fray, the key rival Peoples Democratic party (PDP), which had brought the coalition government down by withdrawing support from the Congress over the land row, has made an improved showing over its previous performance by winning in 21 segments, up five from the last time.
The Congress, with its total of 17 seats, has lost considerable ground to the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Hindu majority areas of Jammu region where a surprising 11 constituencies have gone to the right-wing party riding atop the communal wave sweeping the region since the land agitation, to mop up 10 seats over and above the one it had before.
Despite the PDP’s numerical headway, several of its stalwarts, including Qazi Muhammad Afzal, Abdul Aziz Zargar and Tariq Hameed Qarra, all of them senior ministers in the previous cabinet, have been unseated. But party patron, Mufti Muhammad Sayeed, has won the Anantnag segment, while his daughter Mahbooba Mufti, who is also the party president, has made it past the post in Wachi.
The dynasty in the National Conference has made a partial electoral comeback after being thrown out in the 2002 polls, with patron, Dr. Farooq Abdullah, winning Hazratbal as well as Sonwar, while son Omar Abdullah has triumphed in Gandarbal. But Dr. Mustafa Kamal, the younger brother of Dr. Abdullah, lost the Gulmarg seat to Ghulam Hassan Mir who had parted ways with the PDP to form his own Democratic Party.
Except for marginal variations, the results in the Kashmir Valley have been an approximate replay of the 2002 verdict, with the National Conference (NC) and the PDP keeping their grip on previously held territory.
The NC has made a clean sweep in the Srinagar district, not conceding a single seat to any of its opponents, while the PDP has maintained its supremacy in south Kashmir districts.
Among the winners in the valley are Muhammad Yousuf Tarigami of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M) and Hakeem Muhammad Yasin of the Peoples Democratic Front (PDF), the only successful candidates for their respective formations.
The Congress, which had major sway in the Jammu region in the previous assembly, has managed a total of 17 seats, only two of them from the valley. Ghulam Nabi Azad, the former chief minister and the Congress candidate for the top post, has won from the Badarwah segment in the mountainous Doda district.
Three seats in the Jammu region have gone to the Panthers Party.
In the 87-member assembly, independents have only won four seats this time, a sharp drop from 2002 when they had forged a veritable front and become partners in governance.