National Conference-Congress alliance back to power in Jammu and Kashmir

The National Conference-Congress alliance today stormed back to power in Jammu and Kashmir, India’s only Muslim-majority region, securing a majority.
Meanwhile, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party overcame anti-incumbency to form government for a third successive tenure in Haryana.
The NC-Congress alliance secured 48 of 90 seats in Jammu and Kashmir assembly, while its nearest challenger, the BJP, bagged 29 seats in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly polls. Meanwhile, Congress was able to secure only six seats while the numbers lowered to three for the People’s Democratic Party led by former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti .
The polls, held in three phases in September-October, were the first of its kind since the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019, when the region was divided into two separate federally ruled territories.
NC vice president Omar Abdullah, who won from the Budgam and Ganderbal constituencies, said there should be no “fiddling” with the mandate of the people in Jammu and Kashmir.
“Transparency should be there… If the people’s mandate is against the BJP, then the BJP should not indulge in any ‘jugaad’ [machinations] or something else,” he told reporters in Srinagar.
NC President Farooq Abdullah said his son Omar will be the new chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir.
Speaking about the party’s performance, Farooq said, “After 10 years, people have given their mandate to us. It will not be a police rule here but the people’s rule.”
Promising efforts to release innocent prisoners, he said, “We have to develop trust between Hindus and Muslims. I hope India’s alliance partners will fight with us to restore Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood.”
Mehbooba Mufti’s daughter, Iltija Mufti, who made her debut in electoral politics, conceded defeat to NC leader Bashir Ahmad Veeri in Srigufwara-Bijbehara constituency.
Jammu and Kashmir Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Yusuf Tarigami said the trends showed the people’s votes are against the central government and its policies.
“The writing is on the wall, and the vote of the people is against the BJP government and its policies,” Tarigami said in his first reaction as the trends show NC-Congress alliance, of which CPI(M) is a part of, on the way to a clear majority.
“With a new secular government in place, the people of Jammu and Kashmir will surely heave a sigh of relief,” he added.
In Haryana, BJP bagged 48 of the total 90 seats and was poised to form a government for the third time, while Congress secured 36 seats.
The victory in Haryana is likely to help the BJP in the coming assembly elections in Maharashtra, India’s most industrialised state, where it is caught in a bitter seat tussle with allies in Delhi and in Jharkhand in the next few months, reports our New Delhi correspondent.
In both Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir, the BJP’s direct battle was against Congress. The saffron party ending on top is expected to give an added edge in national politics after it failed to get majority on its own in national elections earlier this year.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said BJP’s win in Haryana was a “victory of the politics of development and good governance,” while Congress described the defeat in the state as “totally unexpected”.