JAMMU: BJP emerged second in J&K assembly elections but retained its dominant position in Jammu region. All its 29 seats came in Jammu, where it improved its tally from 25 it won in 2014.
BJP fell short of the numbers needed to form a govt, but secured the highest vote share in the Union territory — nearly 26%. NC, with its Congress ally, followed with 23%, but won 48 seats.
A big blow for BJP was the defeat of its J&K chief Ravinder Raina, seeking re-election from Nowshera in Rajouri, a seat he won in 2014. He lost to NC’s Surinder Kumar Choudhary, who was earlier with PDP and BJP. While BJP continued to struggle in Kashmir valley, it did make some inroads, coming second in Gurez, north Kashmir.
These elections were held amid a spurt in Pakistan-backed terrorism, with 22 security personnel losing their lives since May 4, 18 of them in Jammu. More than 20 Pakistani terrorists were killed in counteroffensive operations.
Among BJP’s notable winners is first-time MLA Shagun Parihar, a 29-year-old PhD scholar from Kishtwar, whose father and uncle were killed by terrorists in 2018. The districts of Kathua, Udhampur, Rajouri, Poonch, Doda, and Reasi saw intense violence this summer. Despite challenges, BJP triumphed in these terrorism-affected constituencies. Key victories for BJP include Shakti Raj Parihar (Doda West), Kuldeep Raj Dubey (Reasi), Dr Bharat Bhushan (Kathua SC), Vijay Kumar (Hiranagar in Kathua), Ranbir Singh Pathania (Udhampur East), and Satish Kumar Sharma (Billawar).
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