Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections: In the first polls held for the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir's legislature, 51 first-time MLAs have been elected out of the total 90 members. The National Conference (NC) emerged as the single-largest party, securing 42 seats, and also leads in the number of debutant MLAs with 24 first-time legislators. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which won 29 seats by sweeping the polls in the Jammu region, has 15 first-time MLAs, making up more than half of its total seats.
The Congress party, though struggling in Jammu, secured six seats in the Kashmir valley, with two debutant MLAs. Additionally, six of the seven Independent candidates elected to the Assembly are newcomers. All three members of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) and the lone Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA are first-timers in the House as well.
Prominent among the first-time MLAs are PDP youth president Waheed Para, a businessman, AAP MLA from Doda Mehraj Malik and the NC's Mushtaq Ahmad Guroo, who defeated Apni Party president and former minister Altaf Bukhari.
Former MPs among newly-elected J-K MLAs
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 was 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 polls 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 in the past been members of the Legislative Council.
From the BJP, Vikram Randhawa, who won the Bahu seat in Jammu, was a member of the Upper House of the legislature in the past. The Upper House of the Jammu and Kashmir legislature was abolished following the reorganisation of the erstwhile state into two Union territories.
(With PTI inputs)
