J&K BDC Polls: BJP Loses Majority Seats to Independent Candidates

Srinagar: Ghulam Muhammad Mir, in his early 50s, was shot 12 times by suspected militants for his affiliation with pro-India politics, but an undeterred Mir says he continued his journey despite hostility from neighbours, friends and relatives. For more than 30 years, Mir remained a grassroots worker in South Kashmir’s volatile Pulwama area.

Today, Mir was among two contestants fighting for Block Development Council (BDC) polls at Litter, Lassipora block in Pulwama. There were seven voters, who would vote one out of the two contesting candidates for the block chairman.

“I have been an Indian for decades and nothing can change that. I am confident about my win,” Mir says.

When Mir was shot in 2001, he was a National Conference worker, but he recently joined Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). In the BDC polls, however, he fought as an independent candidate against Sajad Ahmad Rana, who was fighting on BJP’s mandate.

“They promised me the mandate but gave it to another candidate. I felt betrayed so I became an independent candidate,” Mir shares.

For security concerns, the polls for Litter village were held at High School Lassipora amid tight vigil of police and security forces. The school premises were converted into a polling station, manned by as many as fifty security personnel in a multi-layer security cover.

The BDC polls were held across Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday in which a total of 23,629 panches and 3,652 sarpanches had to participate in 307 blocks. The number of voters in Pulwama were 94 for four blocks, including Litter, Tral, Aripal and Pampore.

The voting began by 9 a.m and ended by 1 p.m. The process of counting began by 3 p.m and the results were declared by the Election Commission in the evening.

The much-hyped BDC polls were held for the first time in J&K when most of the senior politicians and party activists from all political parties, except BJP, are under arrest. Among the detained are three former chief ministers– Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti. They were arrested on August 5, in what the government termed as “preventive detention”, as Article 370 was abrogated and J&K downsized into two Union territories.

In Pulwama’s other volatile area, Kakapora, in the fray was Manoj Pandita of BJP who contested against another independent candidate, Umar Jan. Manoj was also confident about his victory by the time all the nine votes had been cast in the afternoon.

For Manoj, fighting the polls was an opportunity to cement his connect with the people from his village that he had left in the 90s due to insurgency in the Valley.

“My village is very supportive, and I have never faced any problem since I came back in 2018. My village Lajora is same in terms of development as it was when I left decades ago,” Manoj says.

Both People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and National Conference (NC) did not participate in the panchayat polls held earlier last year, and Congress stayed away from BDC polls, leaving the contest open to BJP, J&K Panthers Party (JKPP) and independent candidates. The election was mainly fought either on BJPs mandate or by independent candidates backed by other parties, including BJP, as stated by the contesting candidates.

Poll Results

The poll results were declared by Chief Electoral Officer Shailendra Kumar on Thursday evening. According to the results, the majority of seats were won by independent candidates. In all three divisions of erstwhile J&K, the majority seat share has been won by independent candidates defeating those from the Right-wing party from majority areas. BJP has managed to win only in 18 seats and 109 seats were won by independent candidates. One candidate from Congress has managed to win a seat in Pulwama.

In the Ladakh division, only 11 candidates managed to secure victory 20 independent candidates won the remaining seats. Similarly, in Jammu division, BJP emerged victorious in 52 seats and 88 independent candidates emerged victorious. Eight candidates from the state party, JKPP, managed to secure their victory in the polls.

According to official data, 98.3% of the total votes were polled with Srinagar recording the highest percentage at 100. The lowest percentage of votes was cast in Shopian district at 85.3%. In Anantnag, 90.5% votes were cast while Bandipora, Baramulla, Budgam and Kupwara, 97.6%, 97.1%, 94.9% and 95.9% votes were cast, respectively.