Kashmir scores hat-trick of indecision

Ehsan Fazili

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, December 23

Unlike the last Assembly elections, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has piped arch rivals National Conference to emerge as the single largest party in the state. However, it remains well short of the magic number of 44 seats required to form the next government in Jammu and Kashmir.

It is for the third consecutive time that people of the state, particularly those living in the Valley, have given a fractured mandate.

While the PDP has won 25 of the 46 Assembly seats in the Valley, the National Conference has bagged 12 seats in the region.

The Congress has managed to secure four seats in Kashmir. Sajjad Lone-led People’s Conference has won two seats.

The PDP-Congress formed the coalition government in 2002 and it was the NC and the Congress which came together in 2008 to form the government in the state.

There was a yearning for change in the Valley this time around and that has reflected in the results, though not that significantly.

The PDP has seen a steady growth from 16 seats in 2002 to 28 this time around. In the last elections it had won 21 seats.

The PDP has been able to raise its graph in Srinagar making inroads in Sonwar, Hazratbal and Batamaloo constituencies of the capital city.

It, however, failed to make its mark in the Ladakh region, comprising four Assembly segments.