2014 & 2019 winner, BJP relegated to 3rd place
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, June 4: Independent candidate Mohammad Haneefa Jan, former Chairman-cum-CEC Kargil Hill Development Council, wrested Ladakh Parliamentary seat from the BJP which won it for two terms in 2014 and 2019 by relegating BJP nominee and Leh Hill Development Council Chairman Tashi Gyalson to third place.
Jan, who was lone candidate from Kargil district as compared to two from Leh district, defeated Congress candidate Tsering Namgyal, Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Leh Hill Council by a margin of 27862 votes.
Significantly, Haneefa Jan lost Kargil Hill Council election from Baroo constituency for two consecutive terms in 2018 and 2023 but went on to become a Lok Sabha member today. He had won Baroo seat for the National Conference in 2013 and remained Chairman-cum-CEC of the Hill Council for about one-and-a-half year.
Haneefa Jan, whose candidature was backed by National Conference and Congress units of Kargil, polled 65,258 votes while Namgyal secured 37,397 votes. Gyalson got 31,956 votes while 912 electorates had pressed the button of NOTA (None of The Above).
BJP candidate Thupstan Chhewang won Ladakh seat in 2014 by a thin margin of 36 votes. In 2019, outgoing BJP MP Jamyang Tsering Namgayal retained seat for the party by a margin of 10,930 votes.
However, this time the BJP finished at bottom as there were only three candidates in the fray.
Even in Buddhist dominated Leh district, the BJP trailed to the Congress. In Leh district, Congress secured 32014 votes while the BJP got 21493. Jan polled 5733 votes. NOTA got 338.
However, in Shia Muslims majority Kargil district, Jan got 59526 votes followed by BJP 10463 and Congress 5383. NOTA was pressed by 558 electorates.
During 2014 and 2019, the BJP won Ladakh seat when there were two candidates each from Leh and Kargil districts. This time, however, there was only one candidate from Kargil district while in Leh district, two nominees were in the race. Votes split between two candidates in Leh, with Congress getting 32014 votes and BJP 21493 votes in Leh district while Jan secured 59526 votes in Kargil.
Follow the Daily Excelsior channel on WhatsApp
Under INDIA bloc agreement, Ladakh seat had gone to the Congress. However, NC and Congress units of Kargil fielded Haneefa Jan, then district president of NC and former Chairman-cum-CEC Kargil Hill Development Council as an Independent candidate.
Entire NC unit of Kargil district had resigned enmasse from the party to support Jan instead of Congress nominee Tsering Namgyal.
Ladakh Returning Officer Santosh Sukhadeve declared Haneefa winner from the constituency after the conclusion of the counting. Haneefa (55), a resident of Barsoo area of Kargil, supported continuation of stalled dialogue with the Centre over four-point agenda of the Leh Apex Body (LAB) and Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA), including Statehood for the Union Territory, its inclusion in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, separate Lok Sabha seats for Leh and Kargil and jobs for the local youth.
“We were hopeful of the support of the people but it was more than our expectations… I will be the voice of people within and outside the Parliament in support of our demands. We are protesting peacefully for the last four years and want the Government to engage with us through dialogue to resolve our pending issues in a peaceful manner,” Haneefa told reporters after receiving the victory certificate from the Returning Officer.
A victory march was taken out in Kargil by the KDA with the participants demanding fulfilment of four-point demands of the people of Ladakh.
Haneefa is the fourth Independent candidate to win the seat, the largest in the country in terms of area, having more than 1.84 lakh eligible voters — a majority 95,926 in Muslim-dominated Kargil district and 88,877 in Buddhist-dominated Leh district.
Over the last two years, Ladakh witnessed a series of protests over the demands of Statehood and Constitutional guarantees under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.
Meanwhile, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah has expressed happiness over the victory of Haneefa Jan.
“@HajiHanifa I’m really very happy for you today. A few months ago you tasted defeat in the Hill Council elections & now you will represent Ladakh, especially the marginalised people of Kargil in the Lok Sabha. Your victory cost @JKNC_ it’s Kargil unit but it was well worth the price”, Omar said in a post on X.
Omar was referring to mass resignations of its Kargil unit after the party directed its cadre to support Congress candidate in Ladakh.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
