New Delhi: The first assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370 saw the National Conference-Congress alliance cross the majority mark and bag power by winning 48 seats in the Union Territory.

While the National Conference won 42 seats, the Congress won 6 seats, according to the Election Commission’s website.

“People have given their mandate, they have proven that they don’t accept the decision that was taken on 5 August…. Omar Abdullah will be the chief minister,” National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah told the media about the election results.

His son and NC leader Omar Abdullah said that the poll results were “totally unexpected” and added that the party got support from those who never supported it for “getting rid of BJP and its conspiracies”.

“As grateful as I am for this vote of confidence reposed in me by the NC president, this is a decision of the legislative party of the National Conference and the allies… I am not staking a claim to the chief ministership of J&K,” he told the media.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 29 seats, four more than what it tallied in 2014.

“These elections in Jammu and Kashmir have been very special. They were held for the first time after the removal of Articles 370 and 35(A) and witnessed a high turnout, thus showing the people’s belief in democracy. I compliment each and every person of Jammu and Kashmir for this,” PM Modi posted on social media platform, ‘X’.

For the National Conference, these elections carried a lot of importance as NC chairperson and former CM Omar Abdullah lost to Engineer Rashid in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. After several statements about not contesting polls till the restoration of statehood to J&K, Omar Abdullah decided to take the plunge and contest not one but two seats in the assembly elections. While he has won the Budgam seat, he is also set for a win in Ganderbal.

Even as the withdrawal of Article 370 and statehood emerged as major issues, local issues such as roads, electricity and employment took centre stage in the assembly elections. Campaigning in the region, Prime Minister Modi had promised to restore Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood, while the party promised a ‘Naya Kashmir’ (New Kashmir).

There were many other firsts in this keenly watched election. Established political parties pitched candidates against Independents, some backed by organisations such as the banned Jamaat-e-Islami. Engineer Abdul Rashid’s Awami Ittehad Party entered the fray. The absence of stalwarts such as Mehbooba Mufti, who chose not to contest the elections this time, was another development.

Amid a high-security cover, voting in the region happened in three phases (18 and 25 September, and 1 October), with voter turnouts of 61.28 percen

The Jammu and Kashmir Assembly has 90 seats, requiring any party or coalition to win at least 46 seats to stake claim to form government. With this result, five members, who will be nominated to J&K assembly by the lieutenant governor, will not play a role in the government formation. The Congress had opposed the move, calling it an attempt by the BJP to manipulate the results.

The nominations are part of amendments to the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act of 2019. A recent 2023 revision allows the assembly to expand to 95 members, with the majority threshold raised to 48 seats.

For the BJP, these elections carried political weight beyond the region. The Modi government has been showcasing the abrogation of Article 370 as one of its key achievements.

The Peoples Democratic Party, which contested the elections on its own despite being a part of the INDIA bloc, managed to win three seats. The party’s fortunes have dwindled in recent years.

The election assumed greater significance for the PDP, considering Mehbooba Mufti recently suffered a defeat from the Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha seat and decided not to contest this assembly election, saying she would not contest as long as Jammu & Kashmir was a Union Territory and did not have its special status.

In their manifestos, the NC and the PDP promised to pursue the restoration of Articles 370 and 35A, which granted special rights to permanent residents of Jammu & Kashmir. The Congress, however, decided to remain mum on the issue, a decision taken ‘strategically’.

The National Conference’s election campaign, meanwhile, saw party patriarch Farooq Abdullah addressing rallies across the region. The party attacked the BJP, as well as the PDP for its “betrayal” in joining hands with the BJP to form a government in 2014.

Ghulam Nabi Azad who, in 2022, launched his platform, the Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP), has failed to leave a mark in this election, with all of its 22 candidates failing to open their accounts.

With 365 Independents, these elections witnessed the participation of the second-highest number of such candidates since 2008 when 468 were in the fray. Only seven Independents won this time. The Independents were termed “proxy candidates of the BJP” by traditional political parties, but they had denied the charges.

In 2014, when Jammu and Kashmir had been a state, the BJP won 25 seats in the Jammu region and formed a coalition government with the PDP, which, with 28 seats, was the single-largest party at the time.

Ahead of this election, heavyweights such as PM Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah campaigned in Jammu, where the BJP has secured the majority of its wins.

Modi addressed a rally in Doda ahead of the polls—the first for a PM in 40 years. Similarly, Shah’s public meeting in Kishtwar district’s Paddar area was the first ever by a Union Home Minister after 1947.

(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)

Also Read: Months after LS defeat, Omar Abdullah wins J&K’s Budgam, leads in Ganderbal