Neeraj Rohmetra
by 8%, Cong dips 2%
Jammu, May 16: Notwithstanding the fact that the Just concluded Parliamentary elections have recorded an increase of 11.7 per cent in the electorate turnout, the vote share of Congress- National Conference (NC) coalition has registered considerable decline in comparison with the Lok Sabha polls 2009. Bharatiya Janata Party, while riding on the Modi-wave has emerged as direct beneficiary of high voter turnout with the party increasing its vote share by nearly 14 %.
As per the latest data available, the vote share of National Conference has slipped from 19.11 per cent in 2009 to 11 per cent, which indicates a dip of nearly 8 per cent. For its alliance partners – Congress, the voting percentage has declined from 24.67 per cent to 22.9 per cent.
As per the electoral agreement between coalition partners, NC contested three seats from Kashmir Valley while Congress contested two seats from Jammu and Udhampur and one in Ladakh region. However, statistics indicated that NC, due to decline in its vote share by nearly 8 per cent couldn’t provide the much sought -after support to the Congress candidates (Madan Lal Sharma and Union Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad) in their respective constituencies in Jammu and Udhampur region.
In Kashmir region, the National Conference vote got diverted to its opponents including independents.
Interestingly, the main opposition party – People’s Democratic Party (PDP) despite winning three seats in Kashmir Valley has registered a marginal decline in its vote share from 22.36 per cent in 2009 to 20.5 per cent this time. Though the party’s voting percentage is down by nearly 2 per cent, it has captured all the three seats- Srinagar, Anantnag and Baramulla respectively in Kashmir region.
In Anantnag, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti defeated NC candidate Mirza Mehboob Beg with a margin of 65, 417 votes while in Baramulla Muzaffar Hussain Baig defeated Sharief-ud-din Shariq of NC with margin of 29,219 votes. In Srinagar, Tariq Hamid Karra defeated former Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah in Srinagar by nearly 42,280 votes.
Baramulla Lok Sabha seat in the Kashmir recorded highest turnout among three seats of the Valley with 39.6 per cent electorates exercising their right to vote. However, the voting percentage went down by 1.5 per cent as in 2009, Baramulla seat had witnessed 41.1 per cent turnout.
Anantnag-Pulwama Lok Sabha seat accounted for 28 per cent voting, an increase of just .9 per cent over 2009 elections when 27.1 per cent voters had cast their votes. Srinagar Lok Sabha seat has recorded a meagre .6 per cent increase in voting. While 26.17 per cent electorates cast their votes this time, the turnout was 25.5 per cent in 2009 elections.
Statistics indicates that BJP has emerged as direct beneficiary of the high polling percentage in the State with almost doubling its voting percentage from 18.61 per cent in 2009 to 32.4 per cent this time. This was also evident from the lead obtained by the BJP candidates over their rivals in the constituencies of Jammu region.
Udhampur-Doda Lok Sabha seat, which recorded 72 per cent voting has witnessed a massive increase of 27 per cent of polling percentage as compared to just 45 per cent polling in 2009 Lok Sabha elections. Dr Jitendra Singh of BJP in a high-pitched battle defeated Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Ghulam Nabi Azad by a margin of nearly 61,000 votes.
In Jammu-Poonch Lok Sabha that went to polls in first phase of State, voting percentage stood at 70.6 per cent, an increase of about 21 per cent over 2009 Parliamentary polls, when the turnout was merely 49.7 per cent. Today, BJP State President Jugal Kishore defeated the sitting MP, Madan Lal Sharma of Congress by a huge margin of 257280 votes. The party also captured the Ladakh seat for first time in political history of State, though with a slender margin of 36 votes. In terms of percentage, Ladakh Lok Sabha seat recorded highest turnout of 72.1 per cent bettering 2009 turnout by just .3 per cent.
Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP), which has presence in Jammu region has also shown decline in voter percentage from 2.42 per cent in 2009 to 1.2 per cent in the just concluded Lok Sabha. Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP), which had also fielded candidates in five constituencies during these polls, has also witnessed a decline in vote share from 6 per cent in 2009 to 1.2 per cent.
Follow our WhatsApp channel