3 seats in kitty, PDP puts up worst-ever show in state polls

While the National Conference (NC) emerged as the single largest party, the Assembly elections also saw the worst ever performance by Peoples Democratic party (PDP), which bagged only three seats.

In 2014, the PDP had emerged as the single largest party, when it won 28 seats. The Mehbooba Mufti-led party contested seats in both Jammu and Kashmir regions this time, but could only win two seats in south Kashmir and one in north Kashmir.

The party’s youth wing president Waheed Para won from the Pulwama seat, with a margin of 8,148 votes; whereas in the nearby Tral seat, its candidate Rafiq Ahmad Naik managed to win with a margin of 461 votes. In north Kashmir’s Kupwara district, senior leader Mir Mohammad Fayaz won after defeating senior NC leader Nasir Aslam Wani and Peoples Conference chief Sajad Lone, who had also contested from the Kupwara seat. The PDP faced devastating losses in central and north Kashmir and could also not maintain a hold in its bastion in the south. It could manage to get a vote share of just 8.87 per cent in the elections.

In south Kashmir, where the party had performed well in the 2014 elections and is considered its stronghold, it could win only two seats. Among the top party faces, which lost on Tuesday, included Mehbooba’s daughter Iltija Mufti and senior leaders like Mehboob Beg and Sartaj Madni.

The PDP faced a similar situation in central Kashmir, where several former legislators and party leaders lost the elections. These included Khurshid Alam from the Eidgah Assembly segment, who lost by 4,398 votes; and Asiya Nakash who lost by 10,295 votes. In north Kashmir as well, the party bagged only a single seat.

Tuesday’s loss is the party’s worst ever performance in an Assembly election —it had won 28 seats in 2014 and 21 in the 2008 election. The PDP had also managed to win 16 seats in the 2002 Assembly polls. When asked about the party’s poor performance in the poll, Mufti said the results were the people’s choice and her party might be down, but not out. “Which party is fighting the NC? It’s PDP…our seats may be low, but we are a force to reckon with. We may be down, but we are not out,” she said.