NC bags four seats, BJP 2
Tribune News Service

SRINAGAR, Oct 7 — The ruling National Conference (NC) has bagged all four Lok Sabha seats in Kashmir valley and Ladakh, while the BJP won the two seats of Jammu and Udhampur.

These elections were held amid militant violence and a boycott call given by the separatist All-Party Hurriyat Conference in the Kashmir valley.

Three former Union Ministers — Prof Saifuddin Soz, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and Mohammad Maqbool Dar — have been defeated, the former in Baramula and the other two in Anantnag constituency. Professor Soz, who won the Baramula seat in all four elections he fought since 1977, remained at the fourth position, Mufti Mahammad Sayeed and Mr Mohammad Maqbool Dar lost to the National Conference candidate in Anantnag constituency. The Mufti's new regional party, the People's Democratic Party (PDP) came second in all three constituencies of Srinagar, Anantnag and Baramula in Kashmir.

Mr Omar Abdullah, son of Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah, retained his Srinagar seat by defeating Ms Mehbooba Mufti of the Peoples Democratic Party. She had contested as an Independent as the party was floated in July, when she resigned as the CLP leader and joined her father, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, who also resigned from the Congress.

Mr Omar Abdullah got 55542 votes while Ms Mufti got 18,683 votes having a margin of 36,859 votes. The Congress candidate got 18,453 votes, followed by 2091 of the BJP candidate, 792 votes of the RJD, 498 by Hafeeza Begum, 310 by the Awami League, 237 by the Panther's Party, 225 by SRJ(P) and 153 by an Independent, Waheeda Shah.

In Baramula, the National Conference candidate, Mr Abdul Rasheed Shaheen, got 84,243 votes out of a total of 1,87,733 valid votes. Mr Shaheen defeated his nearest rival, Mr Muzaffar Hussain Beigh (PDP) by a margin of 38113. The Awami League candidate, Mr Ghulam Nabi Mir got 25,697 votes while Professor Soz remained at fourth position with 11,230 votes.

While the Returning Officer for Anantnag parliamentary constituency has declared the results of the constituency, no details were available till afternoon. The Returning Officer said that the NC candidate, Mr Ali Mohammad Naik, was elected from the constituency, defeating his nearest rival, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed of the PDP. The NC candidate maintained a lead of over 13,000 votes over the PDP candidate, who represented the seat in the previous elections. The other losers include the former Union Minister of State for Home, Mr Mohamad Moqbool Dar of the Janata Dal (United), and the CPM candidate and Kulgam MLA, Mr Mohammad Yusuf T Tarigami.

The National Conference candidate, Mr Ghulam Hassan Khan, defeated his nearest rival, Mr Thupstan Chhewang of the Congress by 2090 votes in Ladakh parliamentary constituency. Out of a total of 1,17,671 votes polled, the NC candidate got 52,187 votes, while Mr Chhewang got 50,097 votes. The BJP candidate, Mr Sonam Paljor got 5801 votes followed by 4626 votes polled by Mr Nasrullah of the Janata Dal (Secular). The results to this constituency were declared by the Returning Officer, Mr N.K. Choudhary, at 12.45 p.m. today, an official spokesman said here.

In Jammu, the BJP candidate, Mr Vaid Vaishno Dutt, defeated his nearest rival, Mr Rajinder Singh Chib of the National Conference, by a margin of 1,42,019 votes. Mr Dutt, who retained the Jammu seat, got 2,89,412 votes against 1,47,393 polled by the NC candidate. Mr Madan Lal Sharma of the Congress with 1,36,356 votes remained at third position. There were 22 candidates in the fray, whose fate was decided by 6,65,921. At least 10,787 votes were declared invalid.

Prof Chaman Lal Gupta of the BJP also retained the Udhampur parliamentary constituency by defeating Mr Jagjeevan Lal of the National Conference by 1,18,307 votes. There were 16 candidates in the fray and 4,03,210 voters exercised their franchise. As many as 3,97,187 votes were found valid, and 6,023 invalid.

Mr Jagjeevan Lal polled 76371 votes followed by Mr Balbir Singh of the Congress party with 75,838.

In the 12th Lok Sabha, the ruling National Conference had the three seats of Srinagar, Baramula and Ladakh. While it has retained the three seats, the NC bagged the Anantnag seat that was represented by the former Union Home Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, in the 1990 elections. The two seats of Jammu and Udhampur have been retained by the BJP.

NC working committee to meet soon

SRINAGAR, Oct 7 (UNI) — The Working Committee of the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference is meeting here shortly to decide whether it should join the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the Centre.

The party General Secretary, Mr Sheikh Nazir Ahmad, said the party working committee would meet here in a day or two to decide its future plans.

When asked if his party, which has won all four seats in Kashmir and Ladakh, will support the NDA in case it forms government at the Centre, he said, "Let the Working Committee decide it."

When his attention was drawn to the recent statement of the party President, Dr Farooq Abdullah, that his National Conference would join the NDA government at the Centre in case it comes to power, Mr Nazir said this point would also be discussed by the working committee.

Asked why his party could not consolidate its position in the Jammu region, he said a majority of voters in Poonch and Doda could not vote because of militancy.

"We wrested the Anantnag seat from Congress and retained Ladakh, Srinagar and Baramula constituencies," he said.

When asked about the financial crunch in the state, he said, "We sincerely hope that the Centre will come to our rescue immediately."

"The tragedy of the people of this state is that the government at the Centre was never sincere towards us," he added.

Man who ‘toppled’ BJP govt loses
From M.L. Kak
Tribune News Service

JAMMU, Oct 7 — Prof Saifuddin Soz, whose vote against the motion of confidence moved by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, resulted in the fall of the BJP-led coalition government and warranted an early election, lost to Mr Abdul Rashid Shaheen of the NC in the Baramula Lok Sabha constituency.

When Prof Soz turned the tables on the Vajpayee-led government about six months ago he had become a hero. He had offers from the JD, RJD and the SJP for contesting election from UP or Bihar, but Prof Soz wanted to encash the act of pulling down the government. But he was let down by those who had praised him for defying the National Conference whip.

Be it Baramullah or Srinagar or Anantnag the ruling National Conference has demonstrated that its roots among the masses are intact, notwithstanding the fight given by the recently-floated Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP).

The National Conference has won four seats, a gain by one seat over the 1998 performance and the BJP has repeated its 1998 exercise by winning Jammu and Udhampur seats. In fact, the NC has upset the PDP in Anantnag where party president Mufti Mohd. Sayeed, who had won the seat on the Congress ticket in 1998 by a margin of over 52,000 votes against his nearest NC candidate, lost by a margin of over 13,000 votes. In the same way the Congress has suffered a setback in Ladakh, considered to be party's stronghold, where its candidate lost by a thin margin of about 3,000 votes.

The poll results do indicate that the Congress has been relegated to the third position in Jammu, Udhampur, Srinagar and Anantnag thereby allowing the PDP in the Kashmir valley and the National Conference in the Jammu region to sustain their roots. Though the BJP has retained its two seats of Jammu and Udhampur, but this time the four non-BJP parties have polled more votes than the BJP indicating that had there been no split in the anti-BJP votes.

Apart from the loss and gain factors for the contesting parties the poll process in Jammu and Kashmir has indicated clearly that militants continue to be in a position wherein they could enforce their orders. No doubt people were indifferent towards the poll process right from the beginning, but 12 per cent polling in Srinagar, 14 per cent in Anantnag and 30 per cent in Baramula coupled with poor turnout of voters in Poonch, Rajouri and Doda districts has revealed that majority of voters were under scare created by the militants.

In the light of this development it would be folly on the part of the Chief Minister and his party colleagues if the rejoice over the victory of the National Conference and forget to remove peoples’ alienation and threat of the militants.

20 of marriage party hurt, 5 ultras killed
Tribune News Service and UNI

SRINAGAR, Oct 7 — At least 20 of a marriage function were hurt in a series of grenade explosions here today.

Eye witnesses said that militants hurled at least six grenades targeted at a picket of the security forces in Kargil Nagar area this afternoon. The grenades missed the target and exploded near a residential house where a marriage function was going on. At least 20 of the party, including two Kashmiri cooks (or wazas) were injured in the explosions.

Tension gripped the locality, where a number of people were attending the marriage ceremony. The injured were immediately rushed to the SMHS Hospital in the area. The condition of some of those injured was stated to be serious. This attack is the first of its kind here, when members of marriage function were injured in militants' attack. There have been few incidents where militants have targeted marriage functions in the valley. One such incident had taken place in Kupwara district early this year.

Meanwhile, the security forces killed five militants, including a Pakistani intruder, averted a major tragedy and arrested a self-styled financial chief of a banned outfit in the valley during the past 24 hours.

An official spokesperson said a major tragedy was averted when a bomb disposal squad deposed a powerful improvised explosive device detected in a bus at a high-security tourist reception centre this morning.

The security forces killed two militants at Saloora, while one militant each was gunned down at Rajwar and Neel Bhaloo during overnight operations. Two rifles, one pistol, eight grenades and one grenade launcher were seized.

A Pakistani intruder was shot dead immediately after he sneaked into this side from Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) at Paragwal last night, the spokespersons said.

At least two security personnel were injured and two cars damaged in two different militant grenade attacks at Naidkadal and Dalgate last evening.

Militants shot at and wounded Imtiyaz Ahmad Bhat at Gawkadal near here last evening, the spokesperson added.

Jammu and Kashmir Police special operation group arrested two militants, including a self-styled financial chief of a banned outfit in Srinagar and Badgam districts during overnight operations, he said.