Srinagar, February 2
After biting dust in Baramula and Kuprawa civic polls, the National Conference (NC) resurfaced today by making a clean sweep of elections to the Srinagar Municipal Corporation.
Held after a gap of nearly three decades, the elections to Srinagar MC were being closely watched by political observers who were not much surprised by the election results declared late evening today. In a house of 68, the NC bagged a comfortable majority by bagging 41 seats, thus retaining its hold in the area. The PDP could barely manage 17 seats while the Congress took just six.
Of the total votes cast, the NC polled 38.13 per cent while the PDP managed 31.69 per cent and the Congress got just 14.21 per cent votes. The total votes polled yesterday were 83, 589. Of these J&K’s main opposition party NC bagged 31877. Mufti Sayeed’s PDP polled 26, 493 votes while the Congress polled just 11,874. The independents managed 9959 of total votes and the Panthers Party garnered 881 of the total votes polled.
Meanwhile, the PDP, despite a sustained campaign in all zones of Srinagar could not manage much presence in the 68 member house as it bagged 17 seats. Despite spearheading the election campaign himself, the Chief Minister failed to generate a performance as brilliant as the one in Baramula and Kupwara. PDP’s coalition partner Congress also fared poorly with just six seats to show.
Four of the total wards went to the independents who contested on the basic issues of lack of roads, proper drainage, health facilities and employment. Panthers Party also managed some presence in today’s results. The total tally, as given out by Srinagar Administration and the Srinagar Municipal Commissioner, Mr Mohammad Shafi Rather, this evening is– NC (41 seats), PDP (17 seats), Congress (six seats) and independents (four seats).
M.L. Kak adds from Jammu: Nine independent candidates, who were declared elected, hold the key in the formation of the party that could run the Jammu Municipal Corporation after the voters gave a fractured verdict.
Out of 68 results declared till this evening the BJP had won 26 seats, the Congress 24, the National Conference six, the PDP two and the BSP one. One seat was won by the Shiv Sena which has an alliance with the BJP. In the 71-member corporation 36 seats are required by a party to run the corporation.
The results for the three remaining seats are awaited as there was a day long dispute over the counting for Ward number 19.
The National Conference provincial president, Mr Ajay Sadhotra, said, “We could have done better had the ruling PDP and the Congress not resorted to rigging. “However, a senior Congress leader and a member of the Council of Ministers, Mr Raman Bhalla, said the election results clearly indicted that the polling was free and fair. He termed as baseless charges of rigging levelled against the ruling coalition.
