The Jammu and Kashmir National Conference in alliance with the Congress party has emerged as the top contender to form the Government if Assembly elections were to be held shortly in the Union Territory of Jammu Kashmir.
The alliance partners marginally fell short of touching the magic numbers needed to form the government if assembly polls were to be held shortly.
Scrutiny of poll results announced on June 4 revealed the National Conference and the Congress party have garnered majority votes from at least 41 out of 90 Assembly segments in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls 2024.
The Bharatiya Janta Party, despite winning both the Lok Sabha seats of the Jammu region, is falling short of at least 16 seats to reach the halfway mark of 45 in a 90-member legislature.The Bharatiya Janta Party polled majority votes from 29 Assembly segments of Jammu-Reasi and Udhampur-Doda Lok Sabha seats.
Like-minded parties--Jammu Kashmir APNI party and the People's Conference supported by the BJP in the valley failed to impact the poll outcome with their marginal presence at the hustings. The Peoples Democratic Party also performed poorly in securing majority votes across five Assembly segments in the valley.
After the successful culmination of the Lok Sabha poll process the Election Commission of India is now expected to take a final call on the timeline of much-awaited Assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir in the coming months.
The Apex Court had earlier set a deadline of September 30, 2024, to conclude the poll process in the region.
Despite suffering a humiliating defeat at the hands of an Independent candidate Abdul Rashid Sheikh from the Baramulla Lok Sabha seat the National Conference has polled majority votes on at least 27 Assembly segments across Kashmir valley and seven assembly segments falling in the twin border districts of Rajouri and Poonch.
The Congress party on the other hand polled majority votes in the seven assembly segments of the Jammu region.
Out of 18 Assembly segments falling under the Srinagar Parliamentary constituency, the National Conference established a clear lead from 16 assembly segments barring two assembly segments of the South Kashmir district of Pulwama from where PDP candidate Waheed Ur Rahman Para garnered majority votes. The National Conference repeated a similar performance in the Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha seat where its candidate Mian Altaf Ahmad garnered majority votes from 15 Assembly segments including seven of the twin border districts of Rajouri and Poonch.
