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| Verdict: regional divide is deep | | | | The verdict is finally out and it is not quite surprising. As the poll-man finishes counting votes the picture of a hung house is quite clear. Peoples of Jammu and Kashmir strengthened the democratic spirit by voting overwhelmingly over past month and half but they have refused to repose faith in any single party. The coalition culture which arrived in Jammu and Kashmir in 2002 is finally here to stay for some more time. The way parties have been leading their election campaign had already underlined that none of them have symmetrical program for entire state. The effort was to secure the safe pockets and therefore the results are almost upto the expectations. The grand old party, the National Conference has again been refused a full mandate. Not only this, the National Conference has not been able to better its position over 2002. Interestingly, the only gainers emerging in elections 2008 are the Peoples Democratic Party and the Bharatiya Janta Party. The massive jump for BJP in Jammu region and a significant increase for the PDP in Kashmir Valley suggest that the regional divide in the state has only deepened. The BJP despite being a national level party has always pursued a Jammu-centric policy and which has eventually paid dividends. Getting eleven seats in Jammu region is a historic win for the BJP and the Amarnath land row has clearly helped party in this significant success. Land row issue was the main plank for BJP in these elections and the party’s decision of fielding Shilpi Verma –wife of Kuldeep Dogra who had committed suicide during land row agitation –underlined that the party wanted to make an emotional issue. Peoples Democratic Party had got only 16 seats in 2002 and its tally has significantly improved even though the party could not cut ice in Srinagar City which was also a matter of prestige for the National Conference. Another interesting result is Peoples Democratic Party getting two seats in Jammu province. This win at Darhal and Mendhar constituencies in Rajouri and Poonch districts respectively really brings the PDP out of its Kashmir circle and enhances its credibility as a state level party and not only a Kashmir centric party, the way it has been seen in the past. So far National Conference has been the only regional party with a significant presence across the state. For Congress the main plank during these elections was clearly development which does not appeared to have worked. During their elections campaigns the Congress leaders projected themselves as champions of infrastructure development. Congress had got 20 seats in last elections and later six independents joined the party enhancing its tally to 26. Had the development plan worked, the party should have been able to improve its tally but it has fallen down to 17 seats. Panthers Party in Jammu and CPI(M) in Kashmir too have suffered losses. While Panthers Party was expecting a rise in its tally but Bhim Singh’s quantitative expansionist plan compromising on the quality has not done any good to the party. With a fractured verdict coming out, the Congress appears to have emerged a ‘king maker’. While all parties have completely ruled out any alliance with BJP, there has to be an alliance between two of the three parties –the Congress, Peoples Democratic Party and the National Conference. PDP and NC, in view of their competition in Kashmir can never join hands and therefore all eyes are now on Congress as which way it decides. |
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