Making inroads
The BJP should be more than happy to get through the 2019 general elections with a comfortable margin as it has achieved this feat by making its presence felt in most of the states spread across the regions.
Be it South, East or the West, the BJP has made its presence felt that too with a formidable presence as it got away with the vote share that was loyal to various families and leaders. However, what is noteworthy is that the BJP has made inroads into those territories that were alien land to the party just a few years back.
BJP which bagged three Lok Sabha seats in Jammu and Kashmir, has got its highest ever vote share of 46.4 per cent in the state, more than that of Congress, NC and PDP put together.
The National Conference (NC), which swept the polls in the Kashmir region and bagged three seats, got just 7.89 per cent vote share. The BJP has taken 46.4 per cent vote share by securing 16,48,041 votes out of total 3,479,155 votes polled in multi-phased elections in six Lok Sabha seats in the state. This vote share is the highest the BJP got in the state till now.
Notably, the BJP, which won Jammu, Udhampur and Ladakh seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, took lead in 27 assembly segments in these three constituencies. This makes it a formidable force in Jammu region and the party has enough reasons to cheer about as its dream of having a Chief Minister from its party to rule a Muslim majority state can turn into a reality in the upcoming assembly elections.
There was increase of 12 per cent in the vote share of the BJP from 2014 Lok Sabha elections in which the party polled 34.40 per cent votes. In the 2014 Assembly elections, the BJP got 23 per cent vote share. This is a phenomenal increase from 18.61 per cent vote share it got in 2009 Lok Sabha polls.
The BJP success can be gauged by the fact that its candidate for Udhaumpur parliamentary constituency Jitendra Singh won by 3.57 lakh votes defeating Congress’ Vikramaditya Singh, the son of Jammu and Kashmir’s last prince Karan Singh. Singh polled a whooping 7,24,311 or 61.38 per cent votes. This was the highest margin of victory for any successful candidate in Jammu and Kashmir till now.
Similarly, its candidate in Jammu Jugal Kishore defeated Raman Bhalla of the Congress by 3,02,875 votes.
Interestingly, the Congress has increased its vote share by 5 per cent but failed to covert it into seats. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the party got 22.90 per cent vote share but failed to get any seat. In the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, the Congress bagged two seats with 19.11 per cent vote share.
Another important regional player, the NC polled 2,80,356 votes (7.89 per cent vote share) out of the total votes polled. Though the poll percentage cannot be compared with Jammu region due to various local factors including poll boycott in various valley parts, still the vote share between the BJP and the NC is showing a wide gap.
The recent polls have also alarmed the PDP whose vote share has decreased from 20.50 per cent in 2014, when it bagged three seats, to just 2.4 per cent (84,054 votes). It lost all three seats.
KV Network
