Jammu: The BJP has emerged the second largest party by winning 29 constituencies in the maiden assembly polls post abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, improving its all-time high tally of 25 seats recorded in 2014 elections.
However, the saffron party’s biggest setback was the loss suffered by its Union Territory president Ravinder Raina from Nowshera constituency at the hands of the National Conference. Besides, the party also failed to secure a win from any seat in Kashmir where most of its nearly two dozen candidates lost their security deposit.
The pre-poll alliance between the National Conference and Congress managed to cross the half-way mark by securing 48 seats with the regional party getting the lion’s share of 42 seats.
The BJP had fielded 62 candidates this time with major focus on its strong bastion of Jammu region.
However, it failed in its attempt to make inroads in Pir Panjal region of Rajouri and Poonch districts by fielding several turncoats from Gujjar and Pahari community including two former ministers – Choudhary Zulfikar Ali (Budhal) and Syed Mushtaq Bukhari (Surankote) – who lost by a huge margin of 18,908 votes and 10,428 votes, respectively. Incidentally, 75-year-old Bukhari passed away on October 2.
Besides the two former ministers, four ex-legislators, including Raina, lost to their rivals.
However, 12 former legislators, including seven ministers, successfully contested the elections and mostly retained their seats. The rest of the party winners are new faces including a former police officer, a university professor and a former bureaucrat who have taken retirement recently to fight the elections besides a lone woman who had lost her father and uncle to a terror attack in November 2018.
J&K BJP chief Raina lost to National Conference nominee Surinder Choudhary from Nowshera seat by a margin of 7,819 votes. Raina had won the seat in 2014 assembly elections.
Similarly, former MLA Rajeev Sharma lost to Congress rebel Satish Sharma by 6,929 votes from Chhamb, former MLA Jewan Lal lost to independent candidate Rameshwar Singh by 2,048 votes in Bani, former MLA Faqeer Mohammad Khan lost to NC leader Nazir Ahmad Khan by 1,132 votes and former MLC Vibod Kumar lost to Congress candidate Iftkar Ahmed by a margin of 1,404 votes.
Vice-president of J&K BJP Sofi Yousif only managed 3,716 votes from Srigufwara-Bijbehara where the winning NC candidate got 33,299 votes followed by PDP’s Iltija Mufti who secured 23,529 votes.
Prominent among others who won the elections for the BJP include former ministers Sham Lal Sharma, Surjeet Singh Slathia (Samba), Pawan Kumar Gupta (Udhampur West), Devender Kumar Manyal (Ramgarh), Rajiv Jasrotia (Jasrota), Shakti Raj Parihar (Doda West), Chander Parkash (Vijaypur), and Sunil Sharma (Paddar-Nagseni) and former MLAs Devender Singh Rana (Nagrota), Kuldeep Raj Dubey (Reasi), Daleep Singh (Bhaderwah), Baldev Raj Sharma (Shri Mata Vaishno Devi) and Ranbir Singh Pathania (Udhampur east).
Devender Singh Rana registered the highest winning margin of 30,472 votes against his nearest NC rival Joginder Singh who polled 17,641 votes, while Slathia also registered a win by 30309 votes against independent candidate Ravinder Singh who polled 12,873 votes.
Two-time MLA Balwant Singh Mankotia, who joined the BJP last year, won the elections from Chenani segment, defeating his nearest rival and former minister Harsh Dev Singh by a margin of 15,611 votes. Singh, who heads National Panthers Party (India), is the cousin of Mankotia who polled 47,990 votes.
Darshan Kumar of the BJP defeated veteran Congress leader and two-time MP Choudhary Lal Singh by a huge margin of 16,034 votes from Basohli constituency, while Garu Ram, a two-time MLA of the BJP, scored victory from Suchetgarh segment by a margin of 11,141 votes.
BJP candidates Arvind Gupta and Satish Kumar Sharma won from Jammu West and Billawar segments by 22,127 and 21,388 votes, respectively.
Shagun Parihar (Kishtwar) defeated her nearest rival and former NC minister Sajjad Kitchloo after a day-long seesaw battle by a slender margin of 521 votes.
Former SSP Mohan Lal won from Akhnoor by a margin of 24,679 votes, former agriculture director Bharat Bhushan emerged victorious from Kathua seat by 12,117 votes and Sunil Bhardwaj (Ramnagar) by 9,306 votes.
