Jammu/Srinagar, April
27
Breaking all previous records of votes polled by any Chief Minister in Jammu and Kashmir, Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad won the Bhaderwah Assembly seat today with the highest margin of 58,015 votes defeating his BJP rival in a direct contest.The election results were significant in many ways, as his coalition partner Mufti Sayeed's PDP, suffered a major setback because it could win only one of the three Assembly seats in the Kashmir valley.
The results of the four Assembly constituencies, for which byelections were held on April 24, were announced today.
The Opposition National Conference (NC) chief, Mr Omar Abdullah, has all the reasons to smile as his party nominee, Dr Mustafa Kamal, defeated the PDP heavyweight, Moulvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari, in the Pattan constituency.
The NC played a spoilsport for the PDP also in the Sangrama constituency, where it did not field any candidate to provide a tacit support to Mr Shoaib Lone, who was denied a ticket by the Mufti although the seat fell vacant following the assassination of Lone's father. The PDP had fielded Mr Javed Hussain Beig, a close relative of the Deputy Chief Minister Muzaffar Hussain Beig, there.
Out of the total number of 66,129 votes polled, Mr Azad secured 62,072 against BJP nominee, Dhanantar Kotwal's 4057. Azad contested the byelection for the seat that was vacated by his cousin, Mohammad Sharief Niaz, to fulfil the constitutional obligation of becoming a member of the legislature within six months.
No other Chief Minister has ever secured that number of votes in the state. Sheikh Abdullah, who after becoming Chief Minister contested the Assembly election in 1977 from Ganderbal in the valley when he had a massive following, secured 26,162 votes. His son, Dr Farooq Abdullah, who as Chief Minister contested the election from the same constituency in 1983, polled 32,331 votes. Mufti Sayeed, who was Chief Minister and contested the by-election for the Pahalgam seat in 2004 to become a member of the lower House, got 9,056 votes.
The election results are expected to have a bearing on the
political scene in the state, as the PDP activists in the Kashmir valley were complaining that in a whispering campaign, the Congress asked its workers to vote for the NC in Rafiabad and Pattan and support Lone in Sangrama. The Congress did not field its candidate in any of the three constituencies in the valley, as the PDP insisted that the seats should be left for it to contest.
Mr Dillawar Mir of the PDP won the Rafiabad seat basically due to his personal influence in the area and not because of the backing of the party. He has represented the constituency several times on the NC ticket and this was for the first time that he was candidate of the PDP.
Mr Ansari's defeat at the hands of Dr Mustafa Kamal, younger brother of Dr Farooq Abdullah, has come as a surprise, as the former being a Shia leader of the valley was respected in the area. However, his recent change of loyalty from the NC to the PDP caused him much damage.
The NC that also did not field any candidate against Mr Azad in Bhaderwah has been causing repeated setbacks to the Mufti, particularly in the valley.
The byelection for the four Assembly seats was being considered as a mini-referendum for the PDP's proposal of "self-rule" and the NC's demand for autonomy.
The election results indicate that there were not many takers of the Mufti's suggestion to India for considering the "self-rule" proposal of the Pakistan President, General Pervez Musharraf.
Reacting to the election results, Mr Ghulam Hassan Mir, a founder member of the PDP, who was recently suspended from the party for supporting Mr Lone in the Sangrama constituency, told this Correspondent that the people had shown that the PDP had adopted a wrong path by deviating from its original policy.
He said the results were also a challenge to the "feudalistic" approach of the PDP.
Former Chief Minister and National Conference patron, Dr Farooq Abdullah, opined that the verdict was against the defectors, which had led to the byelections in both constituencies of Pattan and Sangrama. The PDP mantras to lure its voters to judge its performance in three years’ rule on the slogans of healing touch policy, peace with dignity and the credit on the beginning of the Indo-Pak peace process and Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service, did not play well. The latest mantra of the hoisting of "Sabz roomal" (green handkerchief) by the PDP president, Ms Mehbooba Mufti, also did not help it in attracting voters.
Differences within the PDP and its decision not to give mandate to Shoaib Lone, son of the former leader and minister, Dr Ghulam Nabi Lone, also played a vital role in its defeat in the Sangrama constituency. Instead it fielded Javed Hussain Beigh, nephew of the Deputy Chief Minister Muzaffar Hussain Beigh, which led to a sympathy wave in favour of Shoaib and against the party. The differences within, reflected by the decision of denying mandate to Shoaib Lone, led to open confrontation of another former minister, Ghulam Hassan Mir, with the party leading to his suspension merely three days prior to the polling.
Political observers here believe that Mir’s expulsion served as a catalyst in the victory for Shoaib Lone, who significantly got the NC’s support. Lone also got covertly supported by the disappointed Congress cadres, which did not field its candidate in any of the three constituencies.
