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| PDP trounced in South Kashmir stronghold, all other seats in J&K | | NC makes total sweep in Kashmir | | Farooq, Mehboob, Shariq defeat Ansari, Hussain, Dilawar
Sajjad Lone loses in Baramulla, Namgyal in Leh
Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
SRINAGAR, May 16: In total decimation of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Sajjad Gani Lone’s Peoples Conference (PC), the ruling National Conference (NC) today made a clean sweep on all the three Lok Sabha seats in Kashmir valley as well as the Assembly segment of Sonwar when results were declared for Lok Sabha elections of 2009. While NC’s Dr Farooq Abdullah, Dr Mehboob Beg and Sharief-ud-din Shariq turned out to be the winners in Valley, NC’s clandestinely supported independent candidate, Ghulam Hassan Khan, registered his victory over the senior Congress leader and the ruling coalition’s official candidate, P Namgyal, in Ladakh. Losers in Valley include PDP’s Maulvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari, same party’s former Ministers Pir Mohammad Hussain and Mohammad Dilawar Mir, PC Chairman Sajjad Lone as also the Awami National Conference (ANC) chief and Dr Abdullah’s sister, Khalida Shah.
Election authorities told Early Times that in the Central Kashmir Lok Sabha constituency of Srinagar-Budgam, NC’s Dr Farooq Abdullah defeated PDP’s Maulvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari with a substantial margin of 30,242 votes. Of the 2,82,761 votes polled in 15 Assembly segments of Srinagar, Budgam and Ganderbal districts, Dr Abdullah bagged 1,47,035 and his nearest rival Mr Ansari secured 1,16,793. An independent, Mohammad Illyas Kumhar, got third position with his 4,540 votes and the ANC President, Khalida Shah, stood 4th with just 2,855 votes.
There were 15 candidates in the fray and 11.06 Lakh citizens were entitled to exercise their franchise in the polling that was conducted in 15 Assembly segments of Central Kashmir with modest turnout of 25.5% on May 7th. The coalition-sponsored, Dr Abdullah, and PDP’s high-profile cleric-politician, Ansari, were the key contestants
Officials said that in the South Kashmir Lok Sabha constituency of Anantnag-Pulwama, NC’s Dr Mehboob Beg defeated PDP’s Pir Mohammad Hussain with a margin of 5,224 votes. Of the 3,18,697 votes polled in 16 Assembly segments of Anantnag, Pulwama, Shopian and Kulgam districts, Dr Beg got 1,48,317. He was followed by PDP’s Pir Hussain, who secured 1,43,093 votes. The third position went to an independent, Nazir Ahmed Bhat, who polled 5,981 votes.
With total electorate of 11.66 Lakh in 16 Assembly segments of South Kashmir, there were 13 candidates in the fray in South Kashmir where polling was held on April 30th with modest turnout of 27.3%. The ruling coalition-sponsored, Dr Beg, was in a neck-and-neck fight with PDP’s Pir Hussain.
Officials said that in the North Kashmir Lok Sabha constituency of Baramulla-Kupwara, NC’s Sharief-ud-din Shariq defeated his nearest rival, PDP’s Mohammad Dilawar Mir, with a massive margin of 64,814 votes. Of the 4,41,234 votes polled in 15 Assembly segments of Baramulla, Kupwara and Bandipore districts, the coalition-sponsored Shariq bagged 2,03,022. PDP’s Dilawar Mir stood second with 1,38,208 votes in his favour. Separatist-turned-mainstream political leader, Sajjad Lone of PC, had to be content with the third position while getting 65,403 votes.
There were 13 candidates in the fray in North Kashmir which recorded turnout of 41.9% in the polling conducted on May 13th in 15 segments of Baramulla, Kupwara and Bandipore districts. Nearly 10.53 Lakh voters were entitled to exercise their right of franchise. NC’s Shariq, PDP’s Dilawar and PC’s Sajjad Lone were the key contestants.
While making a total sweep on all the three Parliamentary seats in Valley, NC did not spare even the Assembly segment of Sonwar in Srinagar for which by-election took place alongside the polling for Lok Sabha seat of Srinagar-Budgam on May 7th. Election authorities said that NC’s Mohammad Yasin Shah defeated PDP’s Mohammad Ashraf Mir with a thin margin of 50 votes. While Shah polled 9,306 votes, Mir followed him closely with 9,256. ANC’s Muzaffar Shah got just 1,115 votes. In fact, the day’s most dramatic result came from Sonwar where the PDP candidate maintained minor lead until the penultimate 10th round. It was in the final round that the NC candidate got decisive 48 out of the migrant votes polled which took his final lead to 50.
In the main Assembly elections too, Sonwar had proved to be a high drama battleground between the NC and PDP in December 2008. NC’s Dr Abdullah had won this seat with a tiny margin of 94 votes. Beneficiary of about a hundred migrant votes, Dr Abdullah had polled 7,018 against then PDP candidate, Sheikh Ghulam Qadir Pardesi’s 6,924 votes. Given the fact that Pardesi had thereafter defected to NC and the Congress candidate, Khem Latta Wakhloo, who polled 6,301 votes, was also today on the coalition candidate’s side, PDP has put up a tough fight in Sonwar. PDP’s debutante, Ashraf Mir, who has been twice NC’s MLA from Hazratbal (1987) and Sonwar (2002) was pipped at the post, falling just 51 votes short of the magic figure.
Election authorities said that in the Lok Sabha constituency of Leh-Kargil, in Ladakh regions, an independent candidate, Ghulam Hassan Khan, defeated the ruling coalition’s official candidate and senior Congress leader, P Namgyal, with a margin of 3,684 votes. While Khan polled 32,701 votes and Namgyal stumbled on 29,017 votes. Both the potential contestants were closely followed by former chief of Hill Development Council, Kargil, Asgar Ali Karbalayi and another independent Ms Thinley Angmo. Official said that Karbalayi got 24,498 and Ango 22,717. Another independent, Ghulam Murtaza, polled just 642 votes.
With total electorate of 1,52,391, four segments of the Lok Sabha constituency of Ladakh---comprising two each segments in Leh and Kargil districts---went for the polling with huge turnout of 71.9% on May 13th. There were five candidates in the fray. While Khan and Namgyal were considered to be the top candidates, Karbalyi and Angmo had jumped into the fray and disturbed all calculations of the major political parties.
With today’s result going in Mr Khan’s favour, initially the ruling coalition’s safest seat of Ladakh has ultimately proved to be a paradox for Congress party. In the seat sharing between NC and Congress, the former had claimed Leh-Kargil for it had won three of the four segments in the Assembly elections of 2008. Even as Congress had bagged one-odd segment of Leh proper, Congress had forced NC to surrender Ladakh and left all three of the Valley’s seats---including the PDP’s stronghold of Anantnag-Pulwama, for Dr Abdullah’s party. With the combination of hard work, strategy and luck, NC today captured the coalition’s weakest seat in South Kashmir seat but Congress lost the coalition’s safest seat in Ladakh.
After NC failed to get the coalition’s ticket for the influential Islamia School and Khomeni Trust-supported Ghulam Hassan Khan, he jumped into the fray as an independent against the Congress leader and the coalition candidate, P Namgyal. While Khan had joined NC after his retirement as DIG in J&K Police and successfully contested Lok Sabha election from Leh-Kargil in 1999, Namgyal has been a member of Parliament, Union Minister of State for Tourism as also a member of the J&K Legislative Council.
History has repeated itself in Ladakh. In 1989, during the seat sharing for Lok Sabha elections, NC had got Leh-Kargil and given its ticket to Hassan Commander. However, the power partner, Congress had clandestinely fielded and supported Namgyal. Namgyal defeated the NC candidate and formally joined Congress in a few days. In today’s elections, Khan too deserted his party (NC) and contested as an independent while reportedly enjoying NC’s clandestine support. Consequently, he succeeded in defeating the senior Congress leader. Like, Namgyal’s act in 1989, Khan too is expected to join back NC but much would depend on the coalition partner’s reaction.
Considering Khan as an NC proxy, the ruling coalition has won all the six Lok Sabha seats in the results declared today.
In Valley, PDP’s Maulvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari, who is believed to have got a major chunk of the Shia vote, had posed a considerable threat to Dr Farooq Abdullah in the NC’s impregnable bastion of Srinagar-Budgam. However, thanks to less impact of the Hurriyat-sponsored boycott in the rural districts of Budgam and Ganderbal, NC maintained an impressive lead and finally won this seat with a margin of over 30,000 votes. NC’s main vote came from Kangan, Ganderbal, Chrar-e-Sharief, Beerwah and few other segments.
However, NC’s most remarkable achievements came from the PDP stronghold of Anantnag-Pulwama in South Kashmir as also from North Kashmir where, PC’s Sajjad Lone, was believed to be enjoying superiority over both NC and PDP in Kupwara district. The PC chief was in for a shock for he failed to establish lead even in his twin home segments of Handwara and Kupwara, where NC maintained margin of two to three thousand votes each. Again, it was neither PC nor NC but the incumbent PDP that maintained lead in Lolab segment. With the support of independent MLA, Sheikh Abdul Rashid alias Engineer, NC scored lead of over 4,000 in Kupwara’s Langet segment. Still, Sajjad Lone, who made his debut in contesting the elections, got 65,000 votes. NC, however, has been perceptibly disappointed over turnout as well as its share of the vote polled in Uri where its candidate, Shafi Uri, and the winner Congress nominee, Taj Mohiuddin, had polled over 46,000 votes in the Assembly elections of 2008.
Victory in the South Kashmir constituency of Anantnag-Pulwama has indisputably come as NC’s biggest achievement as the party, now in power, had won only Noorabad segment out of 16 in the Assembly elections. PDP had bagged 12 segments. Besides, NC had failed to get number two position in as many as seven segments. Previously, in Assembly elections of 2002, NC had won just two seats against PDP’s 10. Earlier, in Lok Sabha elections of 2004, PDP’s Mehbooba Mufti had defeated NC’s Dr Mehboob Beg with a good margin, though in very poor turnout polling.
In Lok Sabha elections of 1999, NC’s Ali Mohammad Naik had defeated PDP’s Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, who contested as an Independent but in 1998 Lok Sabha elections, then Congress party’s candidate, Mufti Sayeed, had defeated NC’s Mohammad Yousuf Taing in South Kashmir. Thus, it is after seven years that NC has managed to uproot PDP on its home turf in Valley, though with the advantage of support from Congress and CPI (M) coupled with largely successful Hurriyat-sponsored boycott.
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