Srinagar: In an election which was marred with terror attacks and yet registered a record voter turnout, Jammu & Kashmir gave a badly fractured mandate with no single party reaching a halfway marks of 44 in the 87-member Assembly.
While Peoples Democratic Party registered win in 28 seats to become the single largest party in the state, the ruling National Conference was decimated and could emerge victorious in only 15. The big surprise was Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) improving its tally from 11 in the 2008 Assembly elections to 25 although the party failed to make a mark in the Kashmir Valley despite a high decibel campaign by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Congress faced another rout and was limited to just 12 seats in the state, three out of which have been won from the Ladakh region.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah who ditched his traditional family bastion Ganderbal and underwent the litmus test in two constituencies could claim just one of them. The CM was crushed in Sonawar by PDP's Mohammad Ashraf Mir. He, however, managed to register a victory in Beerwah, though by a thin margin of just over 900 votes.
PDP patriarch and party's chief ministerial candidate Mufti Mohammad Sayeed retained the Anantnag constituency comfortably. PDP won over 23 seats in Kashmir region, followed by National Conference's 14 and Congress's 5.
Amongst the list of big winners is former separatist leader and People's Conference leader Sajjad Gani Lone who won his maiden election from Handwara. Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand of Congress, however, suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of BJP's Dr Krishan Pal by a margin of over 14,000 votes. BJP's Hina Bhat too failed to pull off the elections successfully. Bhat, the face of BJP in Kashmir, finished a poor third in Amira Kadal constituency securing just 1359 votes.
But the BJP ruled the roost in Jammu where it won all its 25 seats. In the last elections too, BJP fetched all its seats from Jammu, a Hindu majority region in India's only Muslim majority state. Party president Amit Shah said that the verdict has led to the emergence of BJP as a "relevant force" in the state.
With the tally standing at PDP 28, BJP 25, National Conference 15 and Congress 11, it will be interesting to see as of who joins hands with whom to form government.
PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti did not rule out an alliance with BJP. She said, "We are in the process of exploring possibilities of government formation."
"It is hard to speak about a coalition partner at this moment as many things have to be considered to provide the people of Jammu and Kashmir a stable government," Mufti added.
BJP, the second largest party in the state, is also "open to all the options". Party chief Amit Shah said, "BJP has all options open in J&K - forming a government, being part of a government or extending support." Shah also acknowledged that the party beat the traditional players in terms of vote share in these elections.
Outgoing Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said that he was happy with his party's performance in the elections which took place just a few months after the most devastating floods in the state. "I don't think we could have done any better given the current circumstances," Omar said.
PDP is in a tight spot as it would have to walk the tight rope in choosing an alliance partner amongst BJP and Congress. Meanwhile, a tie-up between PDP and Congress too cannot be dismissed as the parties had struck a deal during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee years.
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