Over 30 former ministers face defeat in J&K Assembly polls

Ishtiyaq Kar
Srinagar, Oct 08 (KINS): The J&K Assembly election results delivered several surprises as over 30 former ministers lost their seats, with many being defeated by first-time candidates.
A total of 873 candidates contested across 90 assembly constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir. Of these, 47 seats are in Kashmir and 43 in the Jammu region.
The vote counting took place on Wednesday, with the National Conference securing 42 seats, followed by the BJP with 29, Congress with 6, JKPDP with 3, and the remaining seats claimed by smaller parties and independents.
However, the most significant outcome was the defeat of over 30 former ministers, many of whom were beaten by newcomers.
According to news agency Kashmir Indepth News Service (KINS), among the former ministers who lost elections were Abdul Gaffar Sofi, Usman Majeed, Vikar Rasool, Muzaffar Beigh, Lal Singh, Manohar Lal, Chowdhary Zulfikar, Altaf Bukhari, Harsh Dev Singh, Tara Chand, Hakeem Mohammad Yaseen, Ghulam Nabi Lone, Abdul Majeed Paddar, Sartaj Madni, Abdul Majeed Wani, Aijaz Ahmad Khan, Ghulam Hassan Mir, Chowdhary Mohammad Ramzan, Aesia Naqash, G M Saroori, Ajay Kumar Sadhotra, Hakeem Yaseen, Sajad Kitchloo, Nasir Aslam Wani, Mohammad Ashraf Mir, Imran Ansari, Mohammad Khalil Bandh, Abdul Gani Vakil, Abdul Rehman Bhat, Jugal Kishore, Taj Mohiuddin, Mehboob Beigh, Mushtaq Bukhari and Basharat Bukahri.
Notably, around 15 of these ministers had won the 2014 elections on the PDP ticket. In this election, however, many either ran as independents or joined other parties such as the Apni Party and Peoples Conference.
Jammu and Kashmir are now set to have an elected government for the first time in 10 years, following the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019.
The J&K Assembly elections were held in three phases on September 18, 25, and October 1.
Voter turnout in the first phase was 61.38%, decreasing to 57.31% in the second phase before rising to 69.65% in the final phase. The overall voter turnout stood at 62.78%.
In the 2014 Assembly elections, the PDP secured 28 seats while BJP won 25 seats all in Jammu. This was followed by NC 15, Congress 12. (KINS)