Jammu Kashmir Election Results 2024: Despite hype, Engineer Rashid, Jamaat fail to make an impact in J&K

The AIP’s show is particularly dismal as it came barely four months after Rashid, while in jail, managed a spectacular win in the Lok Sabha elections from Baramulla – he had defeated NC leader and former chief minister Omar Abdullah and People’s Conference chief Sajad Lone. Rashid had then secured a lead in 15 of the 18 assembly segments that fall in the Baramulla Lok Sabha seat. However, throughout his campaign in the Assembly elections, Rashid stayed under a cloud of accusations by rival parties that he had been released on interim bail and deployed by the BJP to cut into the votes of the NC-Congress and PDP.

The alliance with the Jamaat didn’t help either. Of the 10 candidates backed by the Jamaat-e-Islami, eight forfeited their deposits. Only its Kulgam candidate, Sayar Ahmad Reshi, put up a fight, securing over 25,000 votes and eventually losing to CPI(M) leader Mohammed Yousuf Tarigami by around 8,000 votes.

In Zainapora, Jamaat-backed candidate Ajaz Ahmad Mir stood second behind National Conference’s Showkat Ahmad Ganaie, losing by around 13,000 votes. Mir, a PDP rebel, had been backed by the Jamaat after the party failed to arrive at a conclusion on its original candidate.

The failure of Jamaat-backed candidates is crucial for the party’s future, especially since a major section within was opposed to the idea of taking part in the elections and had blamed its eight-member panel for taking decisions without consulting the cadre.

In Sopore, a Jamaat stronghold that was represented by Syed Ali Shah Geelani three times, party-backed candidate Manzoor Ahmad Kaloo polled just 406 votes. The Sopore seat polled over 51,000 votes.

Of the five AIP candidates whose managed not to lose their deposits, four of them are political turncoats — Yasir Reshi, Nazir Ahmad Khan, Shanty Singh and Raja Waheed.