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| Development slogan fails to impress voters | | | EARLY TIMES REPORT
Jammu, Dec 28: The 2008 assembly election results have come as a great set back for the Congress party which all along has been claiming of forming the government on its own and emerging as the single largest party in the state.
The results have brought many surprises for the party, the reason being the selection of wrong candidates in certain constituencies. The party which had won 15 seats in Jammu and five seats in Kashmir during the 2002 elections has been relegated to third position this time with most of its stalwarts facing humiliating defeat. The party has just succeeded in wining 17 seats in the state as against 20 in 2002 elections. In addition, the party had the direct support of six independents, majority of whom were given the party mandate this time.
There is no denying the fact that congress party fought elections on its development plank but this alone has not gone well with the electorate. The Amarnath land row has cost heavily on the party as a result of which the BJP which had just one seat in the last assembly has succeeded in getting as many as 11 seats this time.
The party was expected to do much better this time but surprisingly it has failed even to retain those seats which it had won in 2002 elections. The party won only three seats this time from Kashmir valley as against five in 2002 elections thus loosing two seats.
The party stalwarts like Pandit Mangat Ram Sharma, Mula Ram and sitting
MP Lal Singh are among those who have been defeated. The reports suggest that their defeat has been mainly due to their criminal silence during the 62 day long agitation on
Amarnath land row. Out of eight seats in Jammu district, the party has won just a solitary seat of Gandhi Nagar, where its party candidate Raman Bhalla defeated his nearest BJP rival Dr. Nirmal Singh with a thin majority of just over 2000 votes.
In Kathua district the party has won just a single seat this time while it has drawn blank in the recently carved out Samba district.
In erstwhile Doda district, the Congress, however, has done well. Out of six seats it has won five seats including Bhaderwah, Inderwal, Ramban, Banihal and Doda loosing just the lone seat of Kishtwar. Abdul Majid Wani who had won the last assembly election as an independent candidate and later joined the Congress has retained the seat defeating National Conference senior leader Khalid Najeeb Suhrawardhy.
Ch. Lal Singh, sitting MP and former health minister, also lost to an independent while his wife and party’s former member Kanta Andotra was defeated from Basohli by BJP candidate. Ch .Gharu Ram, Suman Bhagat and Gulchain Singh Charak of the Congress party also lost.
It may be recalled that Pt. Mangat Sharma, who had won all the elections in the past, has been defeated for the first time by the BJP’s senior leader Prof Chaman Lal Gupta with a heavy margin.
The Party, the sources, said could have done better had it given mandate to the deserving
ones’ in some of the constituencies including Kalakote were its erstwhile member and sitting MLC Ashok Sharma fought election as an independent but narrowly lost to the NC candidate. |
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