DDC Polls: Gupkar Alliance Bags 75 Seats, Leads in 40 Others in J&K

Srinagar: In the first ever District Development Council (DDC) polls held in the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) candidates have won 75 seats and are leading in other 40 seats so far against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which won 52 seats and was leading in 17 seats so far across the region.

In the Valley, the BJP has so far managed to bag only three seats, including in North Kashmir’s Tulail area of Bandipora, South Kashmir’s Kakapora area of Pulwama and Srinagar’s Khonmoh, where the Right-wing party’s youth affairs in-charge for West Bengal Er. Aijaz Hussain emerged victorious.

The PAGD or the Gupkar Alliance had contested 220 seats while BJP contested over 235 seats.

In the polls, held in eight phases from November 28 to December 19, out of 1,238 candidates who were fighting as independents, 38 have also emerged victorious across the region while 18 other are leading in their respective constituencies.

The BJP win in the polls is seen as a first significant gain for the party in the region even as the PAGD candidates have managed to win most of the contest in the region. The PAGD winners include PDP’s Waheed ur Rahman Para and Congress’ Taj Mohiuddin.

While Para was arrested days after filing his nomination on November 25 by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in a militancy related case, Taj was booked by law enforcement agency Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for alleged illegal confinement of land under now annulled Roshni Act. The former Congress minister won the DDC seat from his native village of Parampillan in North Kashmir’s Uri area.

Para won with a staggering margin of around 1,000 votes from his native village of Tahab in Pulwama bagging over 1,300 votes in his maiden election. He defeated BJP candidate Sajad Ahmad Raina who managed 321 votes only following which PDP president Mehbooba Mufti praised the incarcerated leader. 

“Can’t be prouder of PDP’s @parawahid who won his maiden election by a huge margin of votes. Despite being arrested on baseless charges right after filing his nomination people have shown their love & trust for Waheed. Hope justice prevails,” Mehbooba wrote on Twitter.  

The PAGD was formed earlier this year by seven mainstream political parties of J&K with an objective to restore “special status” of J&K guaranteed under Article 370 and 35 A, provisions that were revoked on August 5 last year. The alliance of the regional parties which includes National Conference (NC) and People’s Democratic Party (PDP), the parties led by former chief ministers of the erstwhile state Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti were fighting DDC polls on seat sharing basis to thwart BJP’s “rising influence.”

The fate of two candidates Somiya Sadaf and Shazia Aslam, of the Pakistan-Administered-Kashmir origin, who were fighting from North Kashmir’s Drugmulla area of Kupwara and Hajin area of Bandipora respectively, hangs in balance as the counting of these two seats was put on hold. According to state election commission, the counting was barred due to complaints received against the two candidates’ citizenship issue.

In the summer capital of Srinagar, the majority of seats were won by independent candidates who managed to secure victory in seven seats while Altaf Bukhari-led Jammu Kashmir Apni Party, seen as an BJP ally, won three seats. The PDP, BJP, NC and JKPM – a party founded by bureaucrat turned politician Shah Faesal – all managed to win one seat each. Faesal, however, resigned from the party before the DDC elections were announced. The CPI(M)won five seats in Kulgam.

Former chief minister Omar Abdullah termed the election trend in the polls as “encouraging” for the Gupkar alliance. “The trends that have emerged in the DDC polls in J&K are very encouraging for @JKPAGD. The BJP had made his election a prestige issue about Article 370 & J&K’s special status. The people have now spoken & it’s for those who believe in democracy to pay heed to these voices,” Omar tweeted.

As many as 2,178 candidates were in the election fray that witnessed an overall voter turnout of 51 per cent in the UT. In Kashmir, the overall polling percentage was recorded at 35%.