Jammu and Kashmir: Congress stuns BJP in urban local body polls; bags 157 wards

The counting of votes in the Jammu and Kashmir urban local body elections was completed on Saturday with Congress winning 157 wards. While BJP bagged 100 wards in the valley, People’s Conference won 4 wards. Independents, however, won 178 wards across 42 urban local bodies in Kashmir division, including Leh and Kargil.

In Kashmir — comprising Srinagar, Baramulla, Kupwara, Budgam, Anantnag, Pulwama, Shopian, Kulgam, Bandipora and Ganderbal districts — of the total 624 wards, 185 remained vacant as there were no contestants in these wards. Of the remaining 439 wards, elections were held in 208 wards only because in 231 wards the candidates were elected unopposed.

In a statement, the election commission said, “While the BJP emerged as the single largest party in 12 municipal bodies, it has a majority in five of these bodies.” “The Congress was the single largest party in 15 bodies, having a majority in 11 of them,” it added.

In the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC), the Congress won 16 seats and the BJP won in four wards. Independents bagged the 53 seats in the 74-member body. Junaid Azim Mattu, who resigned from NC to contest the elections, was among the prominent winners. He had contested from four wards and won from three.

The BJP, which had won the Ladakh constituency in 2014 Lok Sabha elections, got a drubbing from the Congress in Leh and Kargil civic bodies. The saffron party failed to open its account in the two bodies while Congress bagged all 13 seats in Leh and six seats in Kargil.

In Jammu, the Congress suffered a big loss in the election, winning only 14 seats in the 74-member house. Independent candidates won 18 seats in the JMC. In rest of the 446 wards spread across Jammu region covering a total of 36 municipal committees and councils, the BJP had an edge over its rivals in 15 bodies followed by Independents in 12 and the Congress in five.

The BJP won a total of 169 seats in these bodies followed by independents at 167 and the Congress at 96.

Notably, the urban local bodies elections were held in four phases amid stringent security arrangements covering 79 municipal bodies with an electorate of about 17 lakhs. A total of 3,372 nominations were filed for 1,145 wards with poll dates of October 8, 10, 13 and 16.

Importantly, the elections are a direct contest between the BJP and the Congress. A large number of independents are also in the running. The National Conference and the PDP did not participate in the polls.

The urban local bodies polls in Jammu and Kashmir took place after a gap of 13 years, with the last elections being conducted in the year 2005.

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