In Valley, BJP got less than 10,000 votes

M Aamir Khan

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, May 24

Even as the BJP had claimed that it had 4.5 lakh members in the Valley, the saffron party managed less than 20,000 votes from the three Lok Sabha seats in Kashmir. As this figure included 9,835 migrant votes, the BJP technically managed to get less than 10,000 votes from the EVMs during the polling in Valley.

BJP’s Srinagar candidate Sheikh Khalid Jehangir got 4,631 votes that accounted for mere 2.48 per cent of the total ballots polled. Of the 4,631 votes, 2,584 were of migrants besides 85 postal ballots.

Similarly, Baramulla candidate Maqbool War just managed 1.22 per cent votes and thus lost his security deposit like Jehangir. He received 5,448 out of the 44,7019 votes in the constituency.

The maximum votes for the BJP were received by its Anantnag candidate Sofi Yousuf. He managed 9,687 votes that accounted for 7.89 per cent vote share. These included 7,251 migrant votes.

War did not receive any migrant votes as only Jehangir and Yousuf were seen wooing the migrant votebank outside the Valley, besides the minorities presently residing in Kashmir.

Therefore, the BJP in total got 19,766 votes, including 9,835 from the migrants. The votes received in Kashmir accounted for only 9,931 from all three Lok Sabha constituencies.

Despite the poor performance here, the BJP Kashmir unit was seen celebrating the party’s good show across the country. The BJP workers celebrated outside the Jawahar Nagar party office and Jehangir said the truth had prevailed.

The result in the 2014 Lok Sabha poll was somewhat similar, barring Anantnag. In Baramulla, BJP candidate Ghulam Mohammad Mir had then got 6,558 votes (1.42%). In Srinagar, Fayaz Ahmad Bhat had got 4,467 votes (1.45%) and in Anantnag, Mushtaq Ahmad Malik had received 4,720 votes (1.28%).

Modi wave hits Kashmir wall

• BJP’s Srinagar candidate Sheikh Khalid Jehangir got 4,631 votes, mere 2.48 per cent of the total ballots polled. Of the 4,631 votes, 2,584 were of migrants, besides 85 postal ballots
• Baramulla candidate Maqbool War just managed 1.22 per cent votes and thus lost his security deposit. He received 5,448 out of the 44,7019  votes in the constituency
• The maximum votes for the BJP were received by its Anantnag candidate Sofi Yousuf. He managed 9,687 votes that accounted for 7.89 per cent vote share. These included 7,251 migrant votes