Fears of horse trading come true after BJP and its proxies fail to make headway in DDC polls

Gulzar Bhat

The recent results of District Development Council polls in Jammu and Kashmir clearly reflect the fact that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) could not pull off a victory despite the government resorting to all kinds of undemocratic means to contain the leaders of People Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), an amalgam of six political parties, which bagged 110 of the total 280 seats.

The BJP won most of its seats from a few districts like Jammu, Udhampur , Kathua and Samba in Jammu division, failing to make any measurable impact across the region.

In Chinab valley, which comprised of three districts – Ramban, Kishtawar and Doda – the party could win only 14 DDC seats out of a total 42 which went to polls.

In Kashmir Valley, the party could manage to win only three seats despite high-voltage canvassing by top BJP leaders. At least half a dozen of BJP's national leaders visited the Valley during the polls to seek support for the party’s candidates, including its spokesperson  Shahnawaz Hussain holding several meetings in south Kashmir's Anantnag district. Similarly, the party's Kashmir in-charge Tarun Chugh, Union MoS for social justice and empowerment Krishan Lal Gujjar and senior party leader Mukhtar Abas Naqvi visited the Valley during the elections.

In contrast, the scant or almost negligible canvassing by PAGD in both Kashmir and Jammu regions seems to have affected its chances of winning more seats across the region.

Kashmir-watchers believe that PAGD leaders as well as the people have not been given a fair chance in the polls.

"They have not been given fair play in the elections. Many candidates were put behind bars and in spite of all that the alliance has managed to win so many seats," said Prof. Noor Ahmad Baba, a prominent political observer.

Senior leaders of PAGD were barred from canvassing during the elections while most of the contestants from the alliance were put up in ‘secured accommodation’ in the name of security.

While former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti was not allowed to take part in canvassing freely, the party's youth leader Waheed Para was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in the lead up to the elections. However, the incarcerated leader won his seat from Pulwama-I by vanquishing his BJP rival.

Similarly, another party leader, former lawmaker Aijaz Ahmad Mir was barred from visiting his constituency in Zainpora area of Shopian.

Few takers for JKAP

The newly minted Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party (JKAP), which is seen as the ‘B-team’ of BJP and created only to do its bidding in the Valley, has cut a sorry figure in the polls, winning only 12 seats.

Headed by Altaf Bukhari – a cash-rich business man-turned-politician –who was a minister in the Mufti-led PDP-BJP coalition government, the party was formed exactly seven months after the Central government put paid to the constitutional autonomy of Jammu and Kashmir last year. At least 39 known political leaders including five former ministers had joined Bukhari in his new political venture.

The party's main agenda was "development" and "removing the mistrust between the Valley and New Delhi".  The people of the region, however, unequivocally rejected the party in its debut elections.

The JKAP faced a drubbing in north Kashmir, an area from where the party's top leaders – Javed Beigh, Mohammad Dilawar Mir, Ghulam Hassn Mir and Shuaib Lone – come from. Bukhari himself originally hails from north Kashmir's Sopore area too.

A referendum

The DDC elections were the first elections since New Delhi did away with the special status of Jammu and Kashmir on August 5 last year. The elections are meant to take governance to grassroots, but the polls assumed political significance after the BJP brought its national leaders to Srinagar to campaign against the fledgling PAGD alliance.

The elections were seen as a referendum vis-a-vis abrogation of Article 370.  The people in the Valley voted for the restoration of their lost status and contain communal forces from extending their roots. A large chunk of voters in Jammu division had more or less the same feeling.

"All the attempts that BJP had made to change the narrative and recast the politics in Kashmir did not have any impact on the ground, and the policies pursued by the BJP has been rejected by the people," Baba said.

He added that BJP was able to manage seats only from central Jammu while other areas voted against the party.

Former Chief Minister and NC leader Omar Abdullah said in an interview that the elections plainly reflect that the people of J&K were not happy with New Delhi's August 5 radical move.

Horse trading and political detentions

After the election results were out, apprehensions of PAGD about BJP and JKAP facilitating defections came true after two DDC members, one each from NC and PDP from the outlying villages of south Kashmir's Shopian district, defected to JKAP. An independent member from the area also joined the party. Omar Abdullah alleged that NC leaders from the district had been put under prevention detention to achieve this aim.

Barely a day after the results, former NC lawmaker Showkat Ahmad Ganie and senior leader Shabir Ahmad Kullay from Shopian were detained by police after they led two independent DDC members to meet senior party leaders in Srinagar. According to sources, one of the two members, Abdul Hameed Sheikh was put up in a ‘secured accommodation’ and is not being allowed to meet anyone.

Another NC leader Hilal Akbar Lone from north Kashmir was also detained. A day before the counting, former PDP minister Nayeem Akhtar too also detained.