The National Conference- Congress alliance on Tuesday (October 8) comfortably crossed the majority mark in the J&K assembly elections, bagging 48 of the 90 seats up for grabs.
Making headway in Jammu and Kashmir, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate Mehraj Malik has won Doda by a margin of 4,770 votes, defeating Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Gajay Singh Rana.
NC had opened its tally by clinching the Gurez segment, defeating the BJP by 1,100 votes. The BJP had set its sights on winning the seat after the reading down of Article 370. However, its efforts were thwarted by NC candidate Nazir Ahmad Khan who has won from the heavily militarised region for the fourth time.
In Nowshera, NC’s Surinder Kumar Choudhary defeated BJP J&K chief Ravinder Raina by a margin of 10,493 votes while Salman Sagar of the NC won the Hazratbal seat.
Meanwhile, BJP candidate Darshan Kumar won the Basohli seat by a margin of 16,034 votes. Controversial BJP leader and former J&K minister Sunil Sharma won from Padder with a margin of 1,445 votes, defeating NC’s Pooja Thakur. The saffron party has also clinched the Udhampur seat with BJP candidate Ranbir Singh Pathania winning by a margin of 2,349 seats.
The results of 2024 assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, first in the region in a decade have ended. The following is the final tally according to the EC’s website.
| Party | Won | Leading | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jammu & Kashmir National Conference – JKN | 42 | 0 | 42 |
| Bharatiya Janata Party – BJP | 29 | 0 | 29 |
| Indian National Congress – INC | 6 | 0 | 6 |
| Jammu & Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party – JKPDP | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Jammu & Kashmir People Conference – JPC | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Communist Party of India (Marxist) – CPI(M) | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Aam Aadmi Party – AAAP | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Independent – IND | 7 | 0 | 7 |
| Total | 90 | 0 | 90 |
The elections for J&K’s 90 assembly seats were held in three phases between September 18 and October 1.
These will be the first assembly elections held in the erstwhile state since the revocation of its special status under Article 370 and its reconstitution as a Union Territory in 2019.
Key parties, including the BJP, NC and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), have been vying for control of the newly reorganised Union Territory while the rise of Awami Ittehad Party’s (AIP’s) Engineer Rashid has not gone unnoticed.
While Rashid delivered a major upset to J&K’s veteran leaders in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, exit polls published on Saturday (October 5) indicate that the Congress-National Conference (NC) alliance will emerge as the largest bloc in Jammu and Kashmir. The majority mark in J&K is 46.
Jammu and Kashmir: Lok Sabha election 2024 seat share
| Party | Seat |
| NC | 2 |
| BJP | 2 |
| Independent | 1 |
| Total | 5 |
Jammu and Kashmir: Lok Sabha election 2024 vote share
| Party | Vote share |
| BJP | 24.36% |
| Congress | 19.38% |
| NC | 22.3% |
| PDP | 8.48% |
On Friday, NC doused rumours of being in ‘back channel’ talks with the BJP. NC chief Farooq Abdullah called these rumours “baseless” and said, “Those sensing their impending defeat have resorted to spreading such baseless accusations. We urge the public, who have placed their trust in us, to disregard these false claims and not be swayed by rumour-mongering.”
Political analysts believe that the saffron party will not ally with the JKNC, given that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and senior central ministers as well as J&K BJP leaders led a charged election campaign on the plank of keeping the ‘dynastic’ parties – JKNC, Congress and PDP – out of power.
2014 elections
In the 2014 assembly elections, PDP emerged as the largest party, securing 28 seats in the 87-member assembly while the BJP followed closely with 25 seats.
The NC, which had previously held power in the state, won 15 seats, while the Congress secured 12. Smaller parties and independents also made their presence felt, with independent candidates winning 3 seats, the People’s Conference securing 2 and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the People’s Democratic Front (Secular) capturing 1 seat each.
The fragmented results led to a coalition government, with the PDP and BJP forming an alliance.
