Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Elections 2024: The Congress performance in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly election has reached a historic low as only one of its 29 candidates managed to secure a victory in the Jammu region. Several prominent leaders, including two working presidents, faced defeat in the assembly elections.
Congress wins Rajouri seat
In the Jammu region, Congress has only secured victory in the Rajouri seat, a significant drop from the five seats it won in 2014. Congress candidate Iftikar Ahmed defeated his closest competitor, BJP's Vibodh Gupta, by a margin of 1,404 votes, garnering a total of 28,923 votes. Notably, the National Conference did not contest in this constituency as per their seat-sharing agreement.
However, the Congress managed to win two seats in Kashmir where former minister Peerzada Mohammad Syed defeated the PDP's Mehboob Beg by a margin of 1,686 votes and former MLA Nizam-uddin Bhat won the Bandipora seat for the party.
Congress wins only 6 seats in J-K polls
The Congress only managed to win six seats Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections. The party has fielded candidates on 32 seats.
Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress president Tariq Hameed Karra (Central Shalteng), AICC general secretary G A Mir (Dooru) and Irfan Hafiz Lone (Wagoora-Kreeri) are three other Congress leaders who won their seats in Kashmir valley.
Notably, the Congress fought the elections in a pre-poll alliance with the National Conference (NC) and has fielded 32 candidates, mostly in the Jammu region, compared to 51 by the regional party. Additionally, the CPI(M) and the Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP) have each been allocated one seat while both the Congress and NC had a 'friendly contest' on five seats.
Prominent Congress leaders lost
Prominent among those who have either lost or are trailing in the elections include working president and former deputy chief minister Tara Chand (Chhamb), working president and former minister Raman Bhalla (R S Pura), Pradesh Congress Committee president and former minister Vikar Rasool Wani (Banihal), two-time former MP Choudhary Lal Singh (Basohli), former ministers Manohar Lal Sharma (Billawar), Yogesh Sawhney (Jammu East), Mula Ram (Marh) and Mohd Shabir Khan (Thanamandi).
(With PTI inputs)
