Jammu-Kashmir Election Results 2024: In a significant comeback, the National Conference (NC) and Congress alliance secured victory in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections today (October 8). As the vote counting concluded, the Election Commission (EC) declared the total number of seats won by each party. The Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC) emerged as the largest party with 42 seats, followed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with 29 seats and Congress with 6 seats. Notably, seven independent candidates have won from their respective constituencies.
Former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti's PDP secured 3 seats, while Sajad Gani Lone's JKPC won 1 seat. In a notable victory, the Aam Aadmi Party won one assembly seat in Doda. The CPI(M) also won a seat. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) made its electoral debut in Jammu and Kashmir by winning the Doda assembly constituency, with AAP candidate Mehraj Malik defeating the BJP's Gajay Singh Rana.
Final Results of Jammu and Kashmir:
TOTAL- 90 seats
- JKNC: 42
- Congress: 06
- CPM: 01
- BJP: 29
- JKPDP: 03
- JKPC: 01
- AAP: 01
- Independents: 07
Vote share of political parties
Interestingly, the BJP secured a remarkable vote share of 25.64%, followed by the National Conference with 23.43%, and Congress with 11.97%. With these results, the National Conference-Congress alliance is set to form the next government in Jammu and Kashmir. Omar Abdullah, also a former Chief Minister, will assume the role of Chief Minister, as confirmed by Farooq Abdullah.
Shortly after the alliance crossed the halfway mark, National Conference chief and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah announced that his son, Omar Abdullah, would be the next Chief Minister of the Union Territory.
"The people have given their mandate; they have shown they reject the decision taken on August 5. Omar Abdullah will be the Chief Minister," the senior Abdullah told media, as Election Commission results indicated that the National Conference-Congress alliance was likely to cross the majority mark in the 90-member Jammu and Kashmir Assembly.
Omar Abdullah will be Chief Minister: Farooq Abdullah
Speaking to media, Farooq Abdullah added, "We aim to address issues like unemployment and inflation. I am grateful to everyone who cast their votes. Omar Abdullah will be the Chief Minister."
National Conference Vice President Omar Abdullah dismissed exit polls as a waste of time and stated that those who believe in them deserve to be ridiculed.
"If you pay for exit polls or waste time discussing them, you deserve all the jokes, memes, and ridicule. There was a reason I called them a waste of time a few days ago," Omar Abdullah wrote in a post on X, as the National Conference-Congress alliance crossed the halfway mark.
BJP's Jitendra Singh on BJP performance in J-K
Meanwhile, Union Minister Jitendra Singh commended the BJP for what he described as the party's best performance so far in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections.
National Conference holds upper hand in alliance as Congress performance below par
The Congress-National Conference alliance has triumphed in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly polls, winning 49 of the 90 seats in the results declared on Tuesday (October 8), but it is the latter, regional party which has walked away with the honours.
The two parties had declared a seat-sharing arrangement for 83 seats- 51 for the National Conference and 32 for the Congress- mostly in the Jammu region, and a 'friendly fight' on six seats.
One seat each was left for smaller allies- the Communist Party of India-Marxist and the Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party. Out of 56 seats it contested, the National Conference ended up winning 42 across both the Kashmir Valley and the Jammu region, achieving a 75 per cent strike rate. It also notched up an impressive win in the Nowshera seat where its Surinder Kumar Choudhry defeated the BJP's J&K President Ravinder Raina. However, its tally may dip by one as party Vice President and former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has won from both seats- Ganderbal and Budgam- he contested.
Congress won 5 seats in Kashmir Valley
On the other hand, but the Congress only won six out of those in its kitty, or less than 20 per cent. Five of its victories were in the Kashmir Valley and out of the seats it contested in the Jammu region, it only won one- Rajouri-ST, and that too, by a slender margin of just over 1,400 votes. Its total is even less than the seven Independents that have won - including five in the Jammu region.
While its J&K unit chief Tariq Hameed Karra (Central Shalateng) and his predecessors like Ghulam Ahmad Mir (Dooru) and Peerzada Mohammad Syed (Anantnag) won, former chief Vikar Rasool Wani lost in Banihal - one of the seats where there was a friendly fight.
Other prominent losers included Working President and former Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand (Chhamb), another Working President and former minister Raman Bhalla (R.S. Pura-Jammu South), two-time former MP Choudhary Lal Singh (Basohli), and former ministers Manohar Lal Sharma (Billawar), Yogesh Sawhney (Jammu East), and Mohd Shabir Khan (Thanamandi).
AAP opened its account from Doda seat in Jammu and Kashmir
Even in the friendly fights, the NC won the Sopore, Baramulla, Banihal, and Devsar seats, while Bhadarwah ended up going to the BJP and the Aam Aadmi Party won Doda to open its account in Jammu and Kashmir.
Of the allies, CPI-M's Mohamad Yousaf Tarigami won the Kupwara seat, but J&K National Panthers Party's Harsh Dev Singh lost in the Chenani seat of Udhampur district. The National Conference, which is close to the magic halfway mark on its own, is likely to call the shots in the next government it will form.
The Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir were held on September 18, September 25, and October 1.
