SRINAGAR: The seven-party People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) looks set to lead development councils in nine out of 10 districts in Kashmir division, but BJP’s overall dominance of the DDC polls in Jammu might still leave it short of the numbers required to run at least four of the 10 councils there.
For the Gupkar alliance, six districts of the Valley — Anantnag, Budgam, Ganderbal, Kupwara, Pulwama and Kulgam — gave a clear majority of nine to 12 seats each out of the 14 in every council. In the rest, barring Srinagar, the alliance has seven seats each in the kitty and the edge in terms of potential supporters, led by Congress.
In Srinagar, both PAGD and BJP are not even in the picture. The Altaf Bukhari-led fledgling Apni Party, with three seats and seven possible allies in victorious independents, appears most likely to form the first district development council.
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Jammu division presents a picture that doesn’t quite pave the way for BJP to take control across the board. While the saffron party is guaranteed to lead the councils in Kathua (13 out of 14), Samba (13), Jammu (11), Udhampur (11) and Doda (8), Poonch and Rajouri are out of reach. In Poonch, BJP drew a blank, while in Rajouri, NC’s 5, PDP’s 1 and Congress’s 3 have left no scope for any backroom arithmetic.
Ramban, where BJP won three seats, is also rival territory with NC getting 6 seats and Congress 2. There are three independents in the mix. Kishtwar, where BJP again got 3 seats, provides no elbow room either since NC won 6 seats there and Congress 3.
In Reasi, on the other hand, BJP’s 7 seats and Apni Party’s 2 mean the Gupkar alliance has little chance of skewing the equation.
J&K election commissioner KK Sharma said in the evening that results had been declared for 278 seats out of the 280 that went to polls over eight phases. Drugmulla in Kupwara and Hajin-A in Bandipora district are the two constituencies from which results are awaited. (Agencies)
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