51 of elected leaders first-time MLAs

Of the 90 legislators elected to the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, a whopping 51 are first-time MLAs. The National Conference (NC), which has emerged as the single-largest party with 42 seats, also has the highest number of debutant MLAs —...

PTI

Srinagar, Updated At : 08:00 AM Oct 12, 2024 IST

Of the 90 legislators elected to the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, a whopping 51 are first-time MLAs.

The National Conference (NC), which has emerged as the single-largest party with 42 seats, also has the highest number of debutant MLAs — 24. Meanwhile, the BJP, which swept the polls in the Jammu plains, winning 29 seats, has 15 first-time MLAs, accounting for more than half of its tally.

The Congress, which got six face-saving seats in Kashmir, has two debutant MLAs, while six of the seven Independent candidates who won have become members of the elite House for the first time.

All three elected members of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) as well as the lone Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA have been elected to the Assembly for the first time.

Prominent among the first-time MLAs are PDP youth president Waheed Para, AAP MLA from Doda, Mehraj Malik, and the NC’s Mushtaq Ahmad Guroo, who defeated Apni Party president and former minister Altaf Bukhari.

However, it is worth noting that several newly-elected MLAs have been members of the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha or the Legislative council in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. Among them is former High Court Judge and NC leader Hasnain Masoodi, who was a member of the Lok Sabha from 2019 to 2024. Masoodi has been elected to the Assembly from Pampore.

PDP leader Mir Mohammad Fayaz, who won the electoral contest from Kupwara, was a member of the Rajya Sabha from 2015 to 2021. The 47-year-old had lost the 2014 Assembly poll by a slender margin of 151 votes.

NC leaders Bashir Ahmad Veeri (Srigufwara-Bijbehara), Saifuddin Bhat (Khansahib), Javaid Ahmad Mirchal (Karnah), Surinder Kumar Choudhary (Nowshera) and Showkat Hussain Ganie (Zainapora) have been members of the Legislative Council in the past. BJP’s Vikram Randhawa, who won the Bahu seat in Jammu, has also been a member of the Upper House of the legislature.

The Upper House of the Jammu and Kashmir legislature was abolished following the reorganisation of the erstwhile state into two Union territories.