NC-Congress fortunes sink in Kashmir, PDP, BJP share spoils (State Election Analysis)

Srinagar/Jammu, May 16 (IANS) Jammu and Kashmir's ruling National Conference and its ally Congress Friday faced a humiliating drubbing in the parliamentary elections in Jammu and Kashmir, failing to win even one of the state's six constituencies, which were equally shared by the BJP and the PDP.

Having fielded joint candidates on all six seats, the ruling alliance saw all crash down to defeat - a result which does not augur well for the combine as the state goes for assembly polls later this year.

Accepting defeat, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said the results had "shocked" him, admitting he thought the alliance would do badly, but not this badly.

His father, union minister and four times chief minister Farooq Abdullah lost from the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat - the elder Abdullah's first-ever defeat in any election during a chequered political career spread over five decades.

That Farooq Abdullah was upset at his defeat at the hands of Tariq Hamid Karra of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was clear from his reaction to a visit by a senior NC minister who called at his Gupkar Residence in Srinagar Friday evening.

"Throw that man out," he reportedly told the security personnel deployed to protect him.

The shock waves among the rank and file of the NC are palpable.

The defeat to Karra, who lost an assembly election in Batmaloo constituency of Srinagar district in 2008, is an indicator of how the tide has turned against the Abdullahs and their party.

For the PDP, the defeat of Farooq Abdullah is the final icing on the cake.

They have won all the three Lok Sabha seats from the Valley defeating their arch rivals.

Union minister and Congress stalwart Ghulam Nabi Azad, also a former chief minister, lost from the Udhampur seat to Jitender Singh of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

This is also Azad's first ever defeat in the elections.

The BJP has won three seats of Jammu, Udhampur and Ladakh.

The mood in the PDP camp was jubilant. Party's chief spokesman, Naeem Akhtar told IANS: "We always said the people's anger would reflect itself during the Lok Sabha elections.

"It would have been morally right if the NC accepted that this was a vote against corruption, misgovernance and nepotism".

The impact of defeat in the Lok Sabha elections is something the ruling alliance will have to undo if they are going to make a match of the assembly elections.

With the NC losing elections especially in assembly segments represented by its ministers and the Congress camp lying in total disarray, retaining power in the state would be a miracle the NC-Congress appear to be incapable of producing now.

The results also show the NC's sway over the people in the Valley is wearing thin.

(Sheikh Qayoom can be contacted at [email protected])