J&K DDC polls: Gupkar alliance ahead, BJP opens account in Kashmir

The Farooq Abdullah-led People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration is heading for a big victory in the first local polls in Jammu and Kashmir since it lost its special status and was turned into a Union Territory last year. In the first-ever District Development Council (DDC) polls in J&K, regional parties surged ahead in Kashmir while the BJP kept an upper hand in the Jammu region.

In the latest leads, the Gupkar alliance — a grouping of seven mainstream J&K-based parties, including rivals National Conference and Mehbooba Mufti’s People’s Democratic Party (PDP) — is ahead in 108 seats; the BJP is leading in 60 seats. The Congress is ahead in 22.

Omar Abdullah, who is the vice president of the National Conference (NC), told PTI that the results and trends are an “important milestone” for the People’s Alliance on Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) as they endorse the “out view” that revoking the special status of the erstwhile state of J-K and downgrading it into a Union Territory was not accepted by the people. “Now if the BJP and its proxy political party believe in democracy, as they have stated, they should immediately reverse their decision and respect the verdict of the people of this region,” he said.

He said the BJP had flown in a number of Union ministers and central leaders to campaign for the DDC elections. “The BJP is the one which turned these elections as a referendum of its policy of 2019,” he said.

The BJP won an election for the first time from any seat in Kashmir while facing regional heavyweights like the NC and the PDP. Aijaz Hussain won the Khonmoh-II District Development Council seat in Srinagar, while Aijaz Ahmad Khan won the Tulail seat in Bandipora district.

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