Rustam
JAMMU, May 27: If one looks superficially at the statistics released by the election authorities concerning the vote-share of the various political parties in the state, then one would say that the Kashmir's premier political organization National Conference (NC), which is at the helm of affairs, got 11.1 per cent of the total votes polled in the Kashmir Valley in the just-held Lok Sabha. But did it really get 11 per cent of the popular votes polled? The answer is a big NO. No because these votes also included the Congress votes.
All the three NC candidates - Farooq Abdullah, Mehboob Beg and Sharif-ud-Din Shariq - who sought reelection from the Srinagar, Anantnag and Baramulla Lok Sabha constituencies, respectively, were actually the NC-Congress coalition's candidates.
Had the NC contested the election in Kashmir on its own strength, its vote-share would have been less than 9 per cent. The Congress has its few pockets of influence in Anantnag, Pulwama, Kupwara and Baramulla districts, besides its limited support-base in other districts of the Valley. It is clear that the main opposition People's Democratic Party (PDP), which got 20.5 per cent of the total votes polled, has become a force to reckon with in Kashmir.
It is pertinent to mention here that the NC's vote-share in the Lok Sabha elections has consistently declined since 1984. In 1984, its vote-share was 46.2 per cent; in 1996, 27.5 per cent; in 1999, 28.8 per cent; in 2004, 27.8 per cent; and in 2009, when it contested election in alliance with the Congress, it was 19 per cent.
Similarly, the vote-share of the NC in the assembly elections has been declining since 1983. In 1983, its vote-share was 46.2 per cent; in 1987, 33 per cent; in 2002, 28.2 per cent; and in 2008, 23.1 per cent. The NC had contested the assembly elections in Kashmir as well as Jammu and Ladakh.
It is also obvious that the NC is virtually on the verge of political extinction. How else should one describe its vote-share of less than 9 per cent in the just-held Lok Sabha elections?
The reasons why it has become thoroughly unpopular are too well known. Suffice to say that mal-administration, arrogance, disconnect with the people, corruption, politics of autonomy and soft-secessionism and anti-Jammu and anti-Ladakh attitude have contributed to its decline. |
