Lone,BJP lose; NC-Cong sweeps J&K

Forty-one-year-old Lone,who contested the elections despite a boycott call by the separatists,came a distant third in Baramulla,where NC candidate Sharifuddin Shariq registered the biggest victory margin for the party — 60,000 votes.

The NC also beat the Peoples Democratic Party in its stronghold of Anantnag in Kashmir. The constituency had been last won by the PDP’s Mehbooba Mufti. The Congress is believed to have had a major role in the win of the NC’s Mehboob Beigh.

Lone’s defeat was one of the most significant outcomes,as the Peoples Conference was fighting an election after 22 years. It was the late decision to shift to electoral politics after being very vocal in the separatist boycott campaign that went against Lone. Still,he made significant inroads,particularly as he was pitted against both the ruling alliance and the opposition PDP as well as the entire separatist camp,which had given a boycott call.

Lone — who had been expecting to win in this stronghold of his late father Abdul Gani Lone — was devastated and went incommunicado as the results came. While the separatists refused to comment,calling it a non-issue,Farooq reached out to Lone. Telling him not to lose heart,he said: “Not only should the people of Jammu and Kashmir be happy with Lone’s participation in polls,but the country should be proud of the fact that he showed his faith in democracy.”

Acknowledging that the NC-Congress alliance had benefited both the parties,BJP state chief Ashok Khajuria said: “It wouldn’t have been possible for the Congress to win the elections alone,and it was only because of the support of the NC that the party won both the seats.” The joint rallies addressed by Rahul Gandhi and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah also won over votes for the alliance.

However,what came as the biggest blow for the BJP is that the Congress emerged on top even in the Assembly segments it had won recently. What is also clear is that the Amarnath factor,which once polarised the region and led to violent agitations,is no longer an issue here. In contrast,it may have actually gone against the BJP by consolidating the vote against it.

The Congress’s Madan Lal Sharma for example got more votes than the BJP’s Leela Karan Sharma,former convenor of the Shri Amarnath Sangharsh Samiti that led the two-month-long Amarnath agitation,even in its stronghold of Nagrota in the Jammu seat.

The party also won a sizeable chunk of votes in the Muslim-dominated areas.

The Congress’s other candidate,Lal Singh,won from Udhampur despite losing the Assembly polls at the hands of the BJP. Even the party had feared in private that Singh may lose.

A victorious Farooq,who is likely to now get a berth in the Cabinet,asked separatist leaders to get ready for a dialogue with New Delhi in the coming days. “The talks between separatists and New Delhi will start very soon now,after government formation at the Centre,” he said,underlining that the NC would act only as a facilitator in the talks,and not as a “mediator”.

Statement

Jammu & Kashmir

• National Conference-Congress alliance wins three seats in Kashmir

• Amarnath factor which once polarised the region was not an election issue and the Congress won in both Jammu and Udhampur

• The Ladakh seat went to an Independent,Ghulam Hassan Khan