Jammu: The individual performance of the Congress in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly polls has hit an all-time low as only one of its 29 candidates managed to win in the Jammu region, while its prominent leaders including two working presidents lost the elections. The Congress is fighting the elections in a pre-poll alliance with National Conference (NC) and has fielded 32 candidates, mostly in Jammu region, compared to 51 by the regional party.
Additionally, the CPI(M) and the Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP) have each been allocated one seat while both the Congress and NC had a 'friendly contest' on five seats. In the Jammu region, the Congress has managed to win only the Rajouri seat as against a total of five seats in 2014. The Congress's Iftikar Ahmed defeated his nearest rival, BJP's Vibodh Gupta, by a margin of 1,404 votes after securing 28,923 votes.
The NC did not field any candidate from the constituency according to the seat sharing agreement. However, the Congress managed to win two seats in Kashmir where former minister Peerzada Mohammad Syed defeated the PDP's Mehboob Beg by a margin of 1,686 votes and former MLA Nizam-uddin Bhat won the Bandipora seat for the party.
Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress president Tariq Hameed Karra (Central Shalteng), AICC general secretary G A Mir (Dooru) and Irfan Hafiz Lone (Wagoora-Kreeri) are three other Congress leaders who are likely to win their seats in Kashmir valley after taking unassailable leads.
The performance of the Congress leaders in the Jammu region can be gauged from the fact that most of its senior leaders, including two working presidents, a former Pradesh Congress president and several ministers were humbled by the BJP rivals.
Prominent among those who have either lost or are trailing in the elections include working president and former deputy chief minister Tara Chand (Chhamb), working president and former minister Raman Bhalla (R S Pura), Pradesh Congress Committee president and former minister Vikar Rasool Wani (Banihal), two-time former MP Choudhary Lal Singh (Basohli), former ministers Manohar Lal Sharma (Billawar), Yogesh Sawhney (Jammu East), Mula Ram (Marh) and Mohd Shabir Khan (Thanamandi).