With the people of the state giving a divided verdict, both claimed victories on Wednesday.
While the Popular Alliance for the Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) emerged at the top with 110 seats, the BJP won 75 seats to become the largest party.
The BJP claimed that the result of the DDC poll was a victory for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “larger narrative” for J&K. Meanwhile, the Union Interior Minister Amit Shah thanked the people of Jammu and cashmere for helping the BJP emerge as the largest party in early DDC polls.
The District Development Council elections in Jammu and Kashmir can be assumed as a victory for democracy and a victory for the locals. It is also a victory for the vision that Prime Minister Modi had envisioned for the state, said Union Minister and BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad.
Gupkar Alliance leader Omar Abdullah responded with a dig at the BJP and claimed that with a “defeat” in the DDC polls, the BJP-led central government will not hold elections to the legislative assembly in Jammu and Kashmir. in the short term.
He also said that the Center should listen to the voice of the people against the repeal of Article 370, since he himself has described the DDC polls as a victory for democracy.
Stating that the elections were a resounding blow to the BJP, he further said that his claim that everyone in the Valley is happy with the removal of Article 370 was proven.
“The BJP used all their power, money and muscle strength. They created new parties to attract voters and they attracted many PDP leaders to them. But none of that succeeded,” he said, adding that the NC deliberately chose not to campaign as they believed that it was more important for the agenda to speak than for the leaders.
People have rejected Gupkar: Anurag Thakur
Challenging the PAGD’s claim that people have spoken out against the repeal of Article 370 in DDC polls, Union Minister Anurag Thakur said that the BJP and independents got more than 52 percent of the vote, which shows that the Gupkar alliance has been rejected.
Noting that the BJP has become the largest party and its percentage of votes is higher than that of the Gupkar alliance, he claimed that those who were happy with the removal of Article 370 voted for the BJP and independents.
“If you put together the percentage of votes from the BJP and the independents, you get more than 52 percent of the votes. This shows that the people of JK have rejected the Gupkar gang,” he said.
The people of Jammu and Kashmir have spoken out against “terrorism and separatism” and voted in favor of democracy and nationalism, said the BJP leader, who was actively involved in the campaign.
Thakur said that BJP got the highest vote share of “38.74 percent in this election, which recorded more than 51% of the polls.”
“The percentage of votes from the entire Gupkar gang is 32.96 percent. If the votes are calculated, the BJP obtained 4.87.364 votes, while the votes of NC, PDP and Congress together were 4.77 lakh “he said, adding that the BJP emerged as the single largest party in the elections.
“The PPD, whose president Mehbooba Mufti said that no one will take the tricolor in their hands in Kashmir, has only 4.4 percent of the vote in these elections, while the participation in the votes of Congress has dropped to 11 percent, “he added.
He also asked Congress President Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi to tell people if they are with the Gupkar alliance or not.
He said independents who “also fought” against the Gupkar alliance have won more seats than Congress and the PPD, with 13.06 percent of the vote.
The success of PAGD is a clear indication of what the people of J&K want: Tarigami of CPM
CPM leader Mohammed Yousuf Tarigami said the result was in favor of the Gupkar Alliance and was a clear indication that the people of Jammu and Kashmir want “the restoration of their rights.”
Tarigami said: “The verdict is a revelation to the BJP government, which launched a propaganda last August that the people of Jammu and Kashmir have accepted its arbitrary and unconstitutional decision to revoke the special status of the old state under article 370. “.
The participation of large numbers of people in these polls is a clear indication that the people want to fight for their constitutional rights “taken away” in a democratic way, he said.
Margin of victory less than 100 in 19 seats
Nineteen candidates saw an extremely close contest in the first polls of the local body, where the margin of victory was less than 100.
Of these candidates, eight are independents, followed by three from the BJP, two each from the National Conference and Congress, and one each from the Apni Party of Jammu and Kashmir (JKAP), the Popular Democratic Front (PDF) and the People’s Conference (PC), according to data from the state electoral authority.
Avtar Singh, a Sikh who ran as an independent candidate in the Dadsara constituency of the Pulwama district, won the DDC polls by just three votes.
Apni Party bags 12 places
Meanwhile, the Apni Party, which was formed just nine months ago, has won 12 seats and more than 38,000 votes in its first elections in Jammu and Kashmir.
Led by former Kashmiri minister and chief businessman Altaf Bukhari, the Apni Party of Jammu and Kashmir was formed on March 8 with some high-ranking leaders of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Congress to provide the people of Kashmir an Alternative to the bipolar configuration of the NC and PDP.
(With inputs from agencies)
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