Apni Party, Ghulam Nabi Azad’s DPAP decimated in first outing
Termed as the B-teams of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Altaf Bukhari-led Apni Party and former chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad-led Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) were not even able to open their account in both the regions of Jammu and Kashmir.
In an embarrassing defeat, Altaf Bukhari lost to National Conference (NC) candidate Mushtaq Guroo from Channpora constituency of Kashmir by a margin of 5,688 votes. Bukhari had campaigned hard for the Assembly elections but was not able to convince the voters in his favour.
The elections were a litmus test for both Apni Party and DPAP as these were the first Assembly polls for these political outfits. Both parties were formed after abrogation of Article 370 in 2019. While Apni Party was formed in 2020, Ghulam Nabi Azad announced formation of DPAP in September 2022.
Apni Party’s senior leaders lost by a big margin. These include Mohammad Ashraf Mir, who lost from Lal Chowk by 11,343 votes, Ghulam Hassan Mir from Gulmarg lost by 4,191 votes, Yawar Ahmed Mir from Rafiabad lost by 9,202 votes and Shah Mohammad Tantray from Poonch-Haveli lost by a whopping 32,717 votes.
Apni Party’s provincial president of Jammu, Manjit Singh, who contested from Vijaypur in Samba district, also lost against BJP candidate by a margin of 19,698 votes.
The graph of DPAP, on the other hand, had dipped even before the elections commenced when four of its key candidates withdrew their nominations in Chenab region which includes Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban districts. Mohammad Aslam Goni from Bhadharwah, Fatima Begum from Inderwal, Muhammad Asif Khanday from Banihal, Girdhari Lal Bhau from Ramban were the ones who had exit the poll fray.
The party was expecting that at least former minister Abdul Majid Wani will be able to spring a surprise from Doda constituency. However, Wani stood fourth by garnering only 10,027 votes out of 72,980 votes polled in the constituency.
Since their formation, both Apni Party and DPAP were targetted by Kashmir-based parties, who termed them as vote-cutters “planted by the BJP”.
